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40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

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Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#91

Post by cushychicken »

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #67
hocuspocus wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived 5 years in South Korea, and well: * It was incredibly easy to meet other foreigners, and not necessarily westerners, far from that actually. I now have genuine friends on every continent. * Since you're on the same boat, you can relate. Given how unique the work and life environment can be, it's nice to be able to talk with people who'll understand you. * Making native friends isn't easy, even when you're mak…

Comparing East Asian cultures to U.S culture is not a proper comparison. Remember the U.S is a nation of immigrants.

I think his comparison is perfectly valid. It's not one of East Asian vs US culture; it's one of coming from one culture to living in a very different one.

He's discussing the same situation mentioned in the article, but in reverse.

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#92

Post by hkmurakami »

mtw wrote: post #39
beeftime wrote: post #31

Before I got into software development I worked for a South Korean company that helped high-level students get into American and Canadian universities. The single biggest source of stress for myself and the other westerners working there is that the administration's (and the parents'!) only goal was to get these kids into a school, and absolutely no thought was given to acclimating them to a different culture or teac…

I'd say many expat europeans or americans in Asia (Shangai, south korea) don't make any effort in making close native friends. Many of them prefer to hang out with people from their own country, or other western people. Only a few think about "acclimating to a different culture or learn new skills they would need to thrive in a very different educational system and social climate".

The term expat is almost synonymous with "not integrating with native residents" to me. Otherwise imo they would be immigrants!

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#93

Post by thaumasiotes »

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #63
TorKlingberg wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This completely invalidates the headline! Go study in Japan or anywhere, and you will see that foreign students mostly hang out with each other. Certainly their close friends will be fellow foreign students. This is mostly because local students already have an established friend group. Besides, many are on short exchange programmes. How close friends can you really become during a 1-2 year exchange? How many of thos…

"Go study in Japan or anywhere, and you will see that foreign students mostly hang out with each other." That is not a right comparison. The U.S is not Japan.

Full points for worthless technical accuracy on "the US is not Japan". Zero points for accuracy of any kind on "the US is not anywhere".

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#94

Post by hkmurakami »

010a wrote: post #89

I can't generalize for every school, or everyone at every school. I attended an engineering program at one of the top 5 schools by total international student population. Honestly, international students are cliquey. Many of them that I talk to openly admit to cheating on their english proficiency exams universities require you to take before you can attend. Meshing with local students is nearly impossible if you don…

I'm sort of okay with the cheating on English proficiency exams. They're pretty contrived anyways.

But these groups also tend to help each other out in cheating on actual assignments and tests, which doesn't sit well with the me.

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#95

Post by [deleted] »

010a wrote: post #89

I can't generalize for every school, or everyone at every school. I attended an engineering program at one of the top 5 schools by total international student population. Honestly, international students are cliquey. Many of them that I talk to openly admit to cheating on their english proficiency exams universities require you to take before you can attend. Meshing with local students is nearly impossible if you don…

[deleted]

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#96

Post by senthil_rajasek »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #93
senthil_rajasek wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Go study in Japan or anywhere, and you will see that foreign students mostly hang out with each other." That is not a right comparison. The U.S is not Japan.

Full points for worthless technical accuracy on "the US is not Japan". Zero points for accuracy of any kind on "the US is not anywhere".

Yes. If you know any history, the U.S is singular. I deserve more than zero points for highlighting that.

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#97

Post by azinman2 »

Years ago I studied abroad for a year in the U.K. I'm American, so no language barriers, but I found it very difficult to make British friends. I was friends with my flat mates who were British, but otherwise only the Germans were friendly to me. The other international students tended to stick to themselves (particularly the Chinese and Pakistani), despite my attempts at bridging the gap.

Homophily is a known social bias, and certainly affects people in their own country let alone a foreign one. I wonder how much of this is "America" per se, versus standard social forces that affect all populations.

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#98

Post by lumberjack »

systems wrote: post #56

so a solid majority of 60% gets to have a close US friend sounds impressive (too good to be true actually) how does this compare to foreign students in Canada, Germany, UAE, UK

It's unbelievable impressive from my experience. I've only travelled and studied within Europe but I would say, foreign students pretty much never have close native friends. But then again in the US there is no language barrier.

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#99

Post by senthil_rajasek »

cushychicken wrote: post #91
senthil_rajasek wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing East Asian cultures to U.S culture is not a proper comparison. Remember the U.S is a nation of immigrants.

I think his comparison is perfectly valid. It's not one of East Asian vs US culture; it's one of coming from one culture to living in a very different one. He's discussing the same situation mentioned in the article, but in reverse.

The reverse ( non East Asian moving to an East Asian country) is not the same. East Asian countries were never a nation of immigrants.

Re: 40% of foreign students in the US have no close American friends on campus

#100

Post by TbobbyZ »

habosa wrote: post #74

It seems obvious that a huge (and hard to solve) reason for this is simply language! There are many levels of language proficiency: Level 1: Can read and write it at your own pace Level 2: Can comfortably converse in a professional setting (little slang or cultural knowledge needed) Level 3: Can comfortably converse in a social setting (slang, faster speech, less clarification) Level 4: Can do all of the above passiv…

And this is why most people want immigrants to learn English when they come to the US. Assimilation!
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