1. Cross Cultural Interview Project

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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
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6. 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

7. 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

8. 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
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9. 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
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10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.