RE: Cultural Differences: Australia vs UK

[viking-ventures]

Good article, thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm an American who spent over 16 years in the UK, so yeah, I can totally "hear" you!!! Especially with that carpet in the bathroom and kitchen, I mean... w.t.f.??? :p
But there are some great things about the UK too, and I miss living there on a daily basis.

 

Comments

[karliesadventure]

How come you went back to the US?

[viking-ventures]

Many reasons, to be honest. And had I to do it again, I would have made my return tickets for a year later and probably have chosen to return - the culture shock in returning to the US was just as great, if not greater, than it was going to the UK in the first place!
However, had I gone back at that time, I would not have met my husband. :)

Thanks for replying to me and I look forward to hearing from you in the future!

[karliesadventure]

True especially when you have a 15 year gap from being there. I know when I returned from Thailand when I heard everyone speaking English around me I found it weird. Only for a few hours but still weird haha.

[viking-ventures]

Yep - kind of like watching a foreign film (even with subtitles) - when you're done, you almost feel like you can speak the language! Nothing like immersion to make you get a feel for the language/culture though! I haven't been to France in almost 20 years (scary, but true), but my short time being there gave me a permanent "feel" for the language/pronunciation.

Two things that were really funny linguistically - living in the UK for so long.

1. Even after so many years, I would still run into some little nuance from time to time that threw me.
2. When returning to the US, there were words I had to totally learn here. For example, I asked my dad about putting a "water butt" on the house... He was totally confused until I described what I was talking about. Oh, "rain barrel"! lol. No idea what you Aussies call those! ;) (And I've done some writing for some guys out in Perth.)

The things that threw me the most, though, were simple things with differing assumptions. Take "fudge" for example. In the US, if you say the word "fudge" all by itself, we assume the flavor will be chocolate. Very different than in the UK. (Again, I don't know what flavor you assume Down Under.)

Language is such a funny thing.

[karliesadventure]

Indeed it is. My favourite was when I was like 'this is giving me the shits' and they took it literally... haha

[viking-ventures]

Here in the US, it could be taken either way, so it was strange to me to hear that someone (like yourself) would take it only literally!

Living abroad made me:

1. totally immune to obscenities. (Words that were normal for me were off-limits in the UK - and vice versa!)
2. unafraid of asking the "stupid question".