Cross Cultural Interview Project

Depak Patel, The interviewee “I Came to America to earn a lot of money and then go back to India but now America is what defines me” , Depak Patel. Thesis Statement: America is a land of opportunities and has a rich culture that evolves and accommodates all who come here.

Personal Information (with permission from the Interviewee) Name of the interviewee: Depak Patel Age: 55 years Descendent from: India When did move to America: About 30 years ago Current work status: Manager at India A-1 Grocery Store

Background Belonged to a poor family in India Parents could not afford to educate their children Worked as a sales person in India Presently a successful man with a beautiful family Happy in the USA and part of its culture

Why USA? In search of a good life No visible way forward back in India Married a relative who was US citizen Got to US and settled Here since then an living the American Dream Google Free Images

Cultural Practice Cultural Conflict Cultural Identity American Culture seemed different and bad when came to US It felt I was living a bad dream as cultural values were totally different Cultural Identity Felt Strong about cultural values back from India Considered it bad if some one left India culture to adopt to American Culture

Cultural Adaptation In America each person have equal rights Got used to the system Got equal opportunities Had kids who were more Americans than Indians Earned money Progressed in work life Got accepted by America and started to be proud of being American

Life in USA (Positive) Have a well paid job Beautiful family with two kids (sons) who are both engineers Wife is a teacher Own a beautiful house Have family relationships with people from different cultural backgrounds Google Free Images

Life in USA (Challenge) Language had been a challenge Been overcoming it since I came here Especially Indian accent of speaking English People may make fun of it Google Free Images

Cultural Learning USA is a multicultural country People respect each other’s cultural backgrounds There is an American Culture When you come to USA, become an American Adopt to American culture and be happy Being in a state of continuous conflict with US culture results in stress and conflict with yourself

Reflection on Interview Depak Patel is a nice and soft spoken person Loves to share his story We were able to identify ourselves with him We also felt the cultural shock We also feel to be different a lot than the US people We need to learn from Depak’s life experience

Conclusion In the globalized world, each culture in influenced by other cultures Cultural adaptation should not be difficult as it was in past We plan to learn from Depak and reach out to people from diverse cultures Cultural learning is a process that can bring people together Depak learned to respect others cultures and adopt to positive cultural changes which made him a happy and successful person.