American and Brazilian Culture

Do you know any cultural differences between two countries or continents?
If you think about Brazil, what differences are possible to notice in different states of this country?
Do you know any person from a different culture? What is his/her culture like?

I was reading a blog on the UNI website from a student doing an internship in China ( http://www.cba.uni.edu/chinadiaries) and one of the postings was the difference between American Culture and Chinese. I thought that was a great idea of introducing the Brazilian culture as well as American culture. These are my experiences and my point of view about these cultural differences. The angle presented below has a lot to do with how I was raised, and the environment in which I grew up.

I have noticed 22 things about American and Brazilian culture:

Take a shower in the mornings. One thing that I noticed is that American people like to take showers in the morning. I think because they want to smell good around other people. I have never seen so many lotions and body splashes with different scents like in America. Most Brazilians take showers at night before going to bed. We believe that we should clean our body after working the entire day to have a good night of sleep, and to not dirty the sheets (this is what my mother used to say all the time)

Do you have a specific time to take a shower? Why?

Eat sausage and eggs for breakfast. This American habit is very well known in Brazil through the movies. While in Brazil I never ate eggs or sausage. What we generally eat is bread with ham, cheese, sweet bread, crackers, toast, lettuce and lots of native fruit juices. My boyfriend and his parents went to Brazil and my grandmother made eggs especially for them.

What do you have for breakfast?
Do you think sausage and eggs are good to start the day?

Bubble space (personal space). This is the basic rule that you need to know about American culture. Americans like their space. Being too close means invading their privacy and can make them to feel uncomfortable. In my culture when we see a person for the first time that day, we give 2 kisses on the cheeks. There is lots of touching, and hugging. When my boyfriend went to Brazil I told him about this ritual but I forgot to mention that if you are a guy you do not kiss another guy and indeed he tried and it was a very awkward situation. The guy he kissed did not like that much.

What is your opinion about this “bubble space”?
How do Brazilians greet each other?

Be punctual. This is a serious topic. Americans hate when you are late and from what I understood about this culture is that if the person takes the time to meet with you show some consideration and respect by being on time or early. “TIME IS MONEY”. People really get offended when you make them wait. In Brazil there is no difference between on time and 5 minutes late. I do not think my mother would fit very well in this matter with American culture. She is always multi tasking, and for this reason she is late sometimes. My parents always argue when they have to go out because my father is a military, so on time for his is 10 minutes prior to the time but for my mother is 5 or 10 minutes later.

Are you punctual?
How important is it for you?
Source: http://weblogs.uni.edu/intladm/2006/06/differences_between_american_a.html


Composition: Write a text about cultural differences. Include the ones you learned in the class and others that you know/remember.