Comparing the American's culture with the Saudi Arabian's

Nassar Alnassar, Sultan Almutairi and Fahad Alghanem

GW6

David Pearson

15 May 2007

 

 

Making comparisons is the first thing that some people do when they arrive in a country that has a different culture. People form all countries around the world have their own culture, values, customs and way of life. Some cultures have at least one or two common things with others. For instance, a lot of countries have the same religious values, customs and even dating rules. On the other hand, there are these countries that have their own independent culture that is almost unique. Because America is the country of immigrants, the American culture has a lot of similarities with other cultures around the world. However, American culture is completely different than Saudi culture. In fact, culture is not the only different thing between these two countries. The work system in the United States is more strict and fair. Moreover, When Saudis come to the United States, they will be surprised when they see how friendly the people are. Also, they will notice the big difference in the food, weather, and the geography of the United States.

There are so many differences between Saudi Arabia and the United states. People are different in the way they treat each other, and the way they treat foreigners. People in United States are friendly and smiley, especially in South Carolina whose motto is "smiling faces, beautiful places" because of its people. Also people when they deal with each other, they treat people as if they just knew them. Consequently, it is hard to find what is called in Arabic "wasstah," a relationship with a person who is of high regard in society. People who have wasttah can get better jobs, and more opportunities. Furthermore, people from different parts of the world cannot imagine the way they will be treated when they visit the United States. Americans treat foreigners in a friendly way. Foreigners will never feel discriminated against in the U.S. Moreover, foreigners who are Muslims may be surprised by the type of food in the U.S because most of the foods in America contain pork. In Islam, eating pork is prohibited.

There are also other differences that distinguish the U.S from Saudi Arabia. The first one is the weather. In the United States, the weather is cool during the year, and it rains a lot during the summer, not to mention the fact that the United States is a huge country so it has many different weathers. Incidentally, since the United States is a huge country, foreigners may be surprised when they learn that they will spend about seven hours by plane to cross the country from the west to the east.

What differentiates Saudi Arabia from the United States is that the Saudi people are conservative about their culture and values that they can not accept new things in their culture. Unlike the United States, Saudi Arabia is smaller and has a very hot and dry weather. One of the other things that distinguishes Saudi Arabia from the U.S is that Saudi people are not as friendly with foreigners as Americans. The reason is that most of the foreigners come to the United States to study or to find a good life, and most of them are usually higher class people. However, most of the foreigners in Saudi Arabia are from the lower classes. They come to Saudi Arabia to find money in any way no matter how. One of the good things about Saudi culture is that families are the most important thing in people's lives. They see families as their candles that light their way towards future success. They see themselves in their families. They reach out to them. They help them, and they take care of them. This habit is not common in the United States. When boys or girls reach the age of 18, they become totally independent from their families so they lose their family relationships as time passes.

Finally, American culture is completely different than Saudi culture. The work system, food, friendliness, and the weather are the first things travelers from Saudi Arabia will notice. As long as Saudis live in the United States, they will find more differences, especially the ones related to people and communities. In general, by spending more time in the United States, Saudi Arabians can easily adapt to American culture. Americans, on the other hand, will find it really difficult to adapt to life in Saudi Arabia.