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

qz.com

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

#161

Post by flamedoge »

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…

I heard this site reddit is great for picking up on dank memes and social cues

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

#162

Post by JoeAltmaier »

I sometimes work with foreign engineers, often educated in America and working their first or second job. My wife and I often invite them and their spouse home for a dinner.

In every case, they mention sometime during the evening that its the first American home they have ever been inside. After years of school and job. Every, every case.

Americans, we can do something about this! Invite a newcomer coworker to join you for dinner! Its so simple.

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

#163

Post by chillacy »

monksy wrote: post #58
pm90 wrote: post #7

As a former international student, the first year was incredibly lonely as I used to be a deep introvert. The article mentions some of the obstacles but perhaps one of biggest ones is being able to communicate well with Americans. I used to be incredibly anxious about buying groceries simply because I talked very fast English with a heavy accent. I could talk but not communicate ; which means that I could convey fact…

> Perhaps most Americans don't realize just how much of a shared culture is needed for immigrants to understand before they can communicate effectively. I would also like to add to that: The fact that we have a culture. (That's often underplayed to seem "fair" to other cultures)

Culture to us is like water for fish, if you never travel and see something different, you could live and die without knowing anything else.

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

#164

Post by chillacy »

cpburns2009 wrote: post #53
sqrt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't mention political correctness, though...?

Political correctness was mentioned in the article: > Typical campus discourse is often a minefield for newcomers, said a Norwegian student. “I find that Americans are generally very politically correct, and as a European, I think I’m used to being blunter and saying things right out. ..."

Politeness too. There are some cultures which are extremely blunt, no diplomacy or being indirect. For instance just going into a meeting and saying that someone's idea is dumb and they should do it X way instead. Most americans I know perceive this as "being a dick", but this is pretty normal discourse where they come from.

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

#165

Post by Chris2048 »

ch4s3 wrote: post #35
muninn_ wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but none of your suggestions here are good solutions to this article problem. Speaking up and calling the article out, which is what I'm doing, is preferable. ""Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it by clicking on its 'flag' link. If you think a comment is egregious, click on its timestamp to go to its pa…

Again to quote the HN guidelines: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it by clicking on its 'flag' link. If you think a comment is egregious, click on its timestamp to go to its page, then click 'flag' at the top. (Not all users see flag links; there's a small karma threshold.)" That's all I have on the topic.

>> The story isn't spam, or off-topic. It's bad.

> If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it by clicking on its 'flag' link

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

#166

Post by chillacy »

jogjayr wrote: post #147
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…

> international students are cliquey. It might help if you understand why they're cliquey. Many of them are living away from home for the first time, so hanging out with familiar faces and having shared cultural references is comforting (though it sounds wrong). They may not be as proficient in English as they are in their native tongues, so they speak their own languages when they're with each other. And of course t…

To be fair, at companies when people interview and deny a candidate for "cultural fit", they mean "this candidate doesn't interact and know the same cultural references as my in-group", so this type of exclusion is pretty common.

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

#168

Post by flukus »

morgante wrote: post #157
vacri wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US/UK and Australia are all basically the 'same culture' While indeed similar, a story on that: a friend at a high-end consulting firm here in Australia told of a US colleague who was over for a 6-month secondment. At the end of the visit, he apparently said "I wish I had known at the start that the people making fun of me probably liked me, and the people being perfectly polite probably didn't..."

> At the end of the visit, he apparently said "I wish I had known at the start that the people making fun of me probably liked me, and the people being perfectly polite probably didn't..." That's not really a cultural difference. It's just basic social skills in America too.

From what I understand (Australian here) the Australian (and British) version is much more extreme.

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

#169

Post by zaxxal »

As someone who grew up heavily in both the west and east, it's most definitely a cultural issue. IMO Americans tend to be oblivious to so many things and try to hide their ignorance behind liberal values. Which I'm all for, but conversing becomes a game of "what can I say and not have to have a huge discussion explaining my opinion." Mix that in with the college experience and it starts to make sense. I blame the schools for not properly educating children in this country.

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

#170

Post by flukus »

habosa wrote: post #144
TbobbyZ wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

And it's also the reason why throwing an immigrant in English classes won't actually assimilate them. You can't teach Levels 4 and 5 without driven students and a welcoming populace.

But you can't get to level 4 and 5 without getting to level 3, and a lot don't get to level 3.
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