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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

#241

Post by chrisper »

socrates1998 wrote: post #159

I am curious as to what the ultimate goal is for these foreign undergrads. Get a job in America? Go back home and get a job? I guess it all depends on the home country and the American school, but I wonder how valuable an American undergrad degree is worth in their home countries? I know in Japan it often isn't seen as worth it because in Japanese undergrad programs, the people you meet often are a major part of your…

Some people (like me) just wanted to experience living in the US for some longer time. Some people (like me) just wanted to experience something else than just the home country. Eventually getting a job here was on the plan, but since I over time started to dislike this place, I will be going back home in a few months. I am glad I came here because it allowed to learn more about the US.

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

#242

Post by havetocharge »

bookbinder wrote: post #65
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…

> I didn't understand American sarcasm and would be alarmed by some of the things Americans said. Whoah. You just blew my mind. I didn't realize things like jokes and sarcasm could be a barrier for someone who technically understands otherwise understands English.

I genuinely can't tell if you are being sarcastic.

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

#243

Post by innocentoldguy »

bwb wrote: post #200
tluyben2 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never studied in the US but on; > but culturally I care less about American sports and music Culturally I do not even understand this fascination with sports; we watch football (soccer) when there is some worldcup on and our country is playing but besides that the whole highschool quarterback and rooting for your teams all seems like wasted time to me. That might be cultural. But I always turned that into a strength…

I am American and could care less about football, it does limit a lot of guy relationships if you don't care about watching sports. Playing sports is so much fun though, and a way better way to meet people.

That's true. I couldn't care less about televised sports and professional athletes. Watching a game on T.V. feels like watching someone else's vacation videos. I'd rather get outside and do both activities myself.

That being the case, guy conversations that start out, "Hey, did you see the game last night?" typically end in awkward silence when I say, "No."

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

#244

Post by chrisper »

ap46 wrote: post #227
yalogin wrote: post #142

If there are 750K foreign students coming in every year to the US why are there only 65K H1 visas per year available? Surely they should expect at least 10% of them to want to work in the US after their education right? With that why is everyone acting as if the Indian outsourcing companies are the problem for the H1 visa shortage?

Its because 65K is for workers without degrees from US colleges & another 25K is for people with degrees from US to get the OPT. The 65K gets 85% applicants from IT companies based out of India, those jobs don't pay well but companies willing to pay decent salaries get thrown out of it coz of sheer probabilities. There was a post some time back recommending a application fee based on the number of applications from a…

Not quite. You only get the 25K if you graduate in the US from a graduate program. If you graduate with a Bachelors you are not eligible for the extended cap (25K). But the OPT still works.

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

#245

Post by afashglaksnhb »

mikekchar wrote: post #229
crazygringo wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm American, lived in Brazil for 8 years, became totally fluent in Portuguese, worked at a local company, etc. After about 5 years, I realized that no matter how much vocabulary I learned, how perfect my grammar was, or how reduced my accent was -- I would never get the references to childhood cartoons, or any of another 1,000 things that came from growing up there. And it's actually crazy how much of casual convers…

This is the reason I rent old videos of "Anpan man" (a Japanese cartoon for 2-4 year olds), etc. I learn karaoke from the 80's and 90's (and even enka!). But even still, after nearly a decade in Japan, most of my social connections are actually my wife's friends and family. It is quite interesting, though. My biggest goal in learning Japanese was to make a friend who could not speak English. That's what led me down m…

It is interesting that it is so much easier to make friends with someone where they is sexual interaction (not necessarily actual sex right now - can be the possibility of sex in the future). It's not something conscious but the attraction/chemistry seem to smooth over the cultural and language barriers.

Source: my own life and similar anecdotes to yours.

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

#246

Post by kagamine »

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…

A few comments below disagree with you, but my experience is exactly as you described it, and I am a native English speaker in Norway, where everyone speaks English (although not nearly as well as the media or the locals wold have you think). When it comes to following along at a noisy social event or when there are many conversations happening simultaneously I fall somewhere between 3 and 4 on the list. Cultural references and expressions can easily boot me from a conversation as I lose the thread and have to start thinking about the conversation instead of partaking naturally. There is little in the way of real cultural differences between the UK and Scandinavia but enough to make a person feel like an outsider. This often leads to me abandoning social interactions.

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

#247

Post by afashglaksnhb »

vinay427 wrote: post #236
int_19h wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No other country, except maybe for Canada, had to deal with multiculturalism as much. There is a Christian majority country in the world that also has a ~15% Muslim minority, and it's not even particularly geographically confined. It's not US or Canada. Curiously, it's also not a particularly inclusive country. Which just goes to show that multiculturalism doesn't necessarily translate to inclusiveness - it can als…

I'm going to guess France, which has around that percentage of Muslims and is certainly not geographically confined.

More like 6%

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

#248

Post by AnAfrican »

int_19h wrote: post #192
gukov wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American society is as good as it gets when it comes to inclusion. No other country, except maybe for Canada, had to deal with multiculturalism as much. Humans are complicated social creatures by nature. There will always be cliques, competitiveness, the us against them mentality, etc. It's who we are. It's what got us here.

> No other country, except maybe for Canada, had to deal with multiculturalism as much. There is a Christian majority country in the world that also has a ~15% Muslim minority, and it's not even particularly geographically confined. It's not US or Canada. Curiously, it's also not a particularly inclusive country. Which just goes to show that multiculturalism doesn't necessarily translate to inclusiveness - it can als…

Russia is an Empire though.

Its Multiculturalism has always been about hadling Subjects who could become Citizens by Russifying.

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

#249

Post by gragas »

chillacy wrote: post #164
cpburns2009 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That sounds so much better.

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

#250

Post by jeron »

sumedh wrote: post #179
Spooky23 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more than that -- parents explicitly don't want their children to absorb American culture.

> parents explicitly don't want their children to absorb American culture As my Indian parents say, these white people just drink alcohol and have sex all day.

that's funny, my dad says the same thing and he went to an American university
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