Some Differences between Indonesian and American Culture

18 Apr 2011 15 Komentar

by Rimma Mutiara Putri in Uncategorized

There are many differences between Indonesian and American culture. Here are some examples that make them different:

First, is about eating food in the United States and Indonesia. Indonesian people eat the same food every day for lunch and dinner. That is rice. Rice is a main food for Indonesian folk. Even so, they eat it with other foods, like meat and vegetables. On the other hand, American people eat a variety of foods each day. In particular, they eat pizza, sandwiches, pasta or noodles, and sometimes meat for dining.

Another difference is how people prepare the food for lunch and dinner. In the United States, people take a longer time to prepare dinner than lunch. They cook the food approximately one and half-hours before eating. On the other hand, in Indonesia, people take a longer time to prepare a lunch than a dinner. For dinner, they usually warm the food that was cooked at noon instead of making more.

A final difference in eating food between the United States and Indonesia is the taste of the food. In general, Americans prefer a sweet taste or a little bit salty in their food. In contrast, most Indonesian people like a hot and spicy taste in their food. Also, Indonesian would like to eat food that still warms instead of food that is not warm anymore. Therefore they always warm their food before eating. On the other hand, American people admit to eat food that isn’t warm, like sandwiches.

Second, the different of driving a car. In general, the similarity of driving in the U.S and Indonesia is driver has to respect to pedestrians when they meet them on the street, specifically when the pedestrian want to across the street. They have to give opportunity to pedestrian first when the traffic light is red before they continue driving. If they don’t obey this rule, and an accident happens, they will get fine.

On the other hand, there are some different in driving in the U.S. and Indonesia. For example, crossing street without traffic light. People in the United States more respect to the pedestrian than in Indonesia in this situation. In Indonesia, a driver doesn’t care about pedestrian, if they don’t across the street on the appropriate place, like at traffic light. They keep driving fast, although they see pedestrian want to across the street. In contrast, in the U.S. driver always respect to pedestrian, although they across the street without traffic light.

Third, what Indonesians and Americans do when they are sneezing? In Indonesia, there are two kinds of action if they are sneezing. One, people will say “Maaf” when they are sneezing. It means “Sorry” in English. It shows a refine of the people. In this type, usually people who hear the sneeze don’t do or say something. They ignore it, because the sneezer already said sorry. Two, people who are sneezing will say “Alhamdulillah”. The people who hear the sneeze will say”Yarhamukallah”. Saying the words is also to respect the people close to the sneezer. It is Arab language. Moslem people usually use it. But in America, people usually don not say anything.

Forth and the last, the United States is very unique in the world because the accreditation or the system for setting national standards of quality in education is not administrated by government, but by committees of educators and private agencies like the Middle State Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Society of Engineers. Meanwhile, Indonesia is administrated by the government.