Cultural differences

My first blog post will be about my exploration into how to fit into our new world. I have met very few Welsh-people in my life, and I have little knowledge about their ways. But the main reasons Dan and I are moving abroad are to learn about a new culture, meet new people, and for me, to acquire a new language. I decided to get a jump start on the culture goal by doing some summer reading. During our house-hunting trip, a colleague recommended that I read a book called “Watching the English” by Kate Fox. Fox is an English anthropologist and wrote this book to come up with a “grammar” of English behavior, excuse me, behavioUr. She is an insightful and witty writer, and I am thoroughly enjoying this book. I’m also told that despite the fact that it’s a book about the English, much of what I’m learning can also be loosely applied to the Welsh. I keep bugging Dan with bits that I’m learning (“That’s why nobody came to our table to take our order at the pub!”) and am trying to keep the mountains of rules straight in my head. I’m not necessarily trying to blend in so well that I can pass off as a Brit (not like our insidious neighbors to the north that come into American life and drop a “Sorry” bomb on us at the most unexpected times), but I do want to be aware enough to not offend anyone and to not be offended. The language stuff is the most fascinating to me, of course, and I’m learning how language is inextricably tied up with social class. Dan and I wonder if their obsession with social class and categorizing people by them is like Americans’ categorizing people by race; it mostly doesn’t impact the way you treat them, but you do it sort of unconsciously anyway. So far, Fox has told me that the English are very reserved private people who are obsessed with social class, use talking about the weather to break the ice, and are polite and put on the appearance of being egalitarian. HumoUr pervades much of their life and they like understatements and irony. The pub and drinking are pretty integral in their lives. I definitely recommend the book to anyone who is moving to the UK.

Tags: UK Culture