Cultural Training

Everybody coming from an overseas country, in my company, has a one day training to give them an idea of the basic differences between their home culture and the new one. In fact, I was supposed to have this training before my final move, but it was scheduled after two months living here, a little behind schedule! But basically, I would like to highlight three topics that were interesting in my point of view.

First is why American people don’t care as much about their own cars as Brazilians. Next is why American don’t change their clothes to go out. The last, but not least important, is why Americans don’t brush their teeth after lunch in the office. But before I start the topics, I need to talk about the tutor, who came from Washington DC, lived a few years in Brazil during the 70s, and in the same region that I came from; this is interesting considering the size of the country.

When I came here for the first time in 2010, I realized that American people don’t care about their cars like Brazilians, and I always thought that the price of the cars was the reason. Because the car here in the U.S. with a price around $17,000.00 dollars, in Brazil I would pay around R$65,000.00 reais (or $30,000.00 dollars), but the tutor told us that the difference was based on personalities. In the U.S.,  people don’t care about what other people will think about them. On the other hand, you have Brazilian people who would like to show off their own goods. I don’t believe in this theory. For me the price is the better answer.

About the clothes, I don’t have any theory from my side, but I can tell you that for me it’s strange to see someone wearing socks with slippers and shorts in the supermarket.  In Brazil it’s different.  People have clothes to use at home, and others to use when they go out at night. The tutor told me the same theory about cars.

Now, when I started to talk about the differences in the office, one thing that is normal in Brazil is to brush the teeth after lunch, and here I am the only one in my area who is doing this. The tutor told me that here in U.S., this action (brushing teeth) is considered an intimate one, and it’s not performed in public. For me and in my country, this is a heath care action, and there is not problem to do that in public.

So, in an overall view, the training was very good. My wife liked it because the tutor described my wife’s  feelings about being  in a foreign country so well…….