Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[honeybee]

What does ethnocentrism mean to you? How does a person become non-ethnocentric?
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Honeybee

[Tara B]

It means you think that all of your culture's values, manners, and customs are the right ones and anyone who is different is wrong. You stop being ethnocentric by realizing that other people's cultures are just as valid as yours.

For example, some cultures value sincerity, which means they tell you what they think even if it is negative. Other cultures value optimism and would rather have you say something nice, even if you don't really mean it. Sincerity and optemism are both good values, and there is no objective way to judge which one is really more important.

You can (and should) have your own values, manners, and customs without being ethnocentric. But it is ethnocentric if you try to push them on others.

[szmeill]

Everybody is same since he is born on the world. and everybody's life is same important. for this ground sea, many people are dead, but more persons from other countries give them warm hands to help them to rebuild their home. there no ethnocentric.
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Hello everyone!
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[Katie B.]

In my opinion, ethnocentrism is a social disease. The worst part about it is that it is invisible to most people. Most of our beliefs and traditions come from our culture and, unless we've had the opportunity to travel and really experience other cultures, we don't even realize how much our culture impacts the way we think and live.

I started teaching ESL 2 years ago and I've had the chance to meet people from many different countries. One thing I notice they all have in common is "culture shock". There are things about US culture that they cannot accept and will never get used to, both small things like the way our toilets work, and big things like American Imperialism.

I'm not saying that they aren't entitled to their beliefs. I'm just saying that it's interesting that ethnocentrism affects us all in some way.

In my opinion, the only way to "get rid of" ethnocentrism is to travel and experience different cultures (and I don't mean as a tourist!). When you really try to understand a different culture, you will find that you have more similarities than differences.

[asterix]

American Imperialism?
The Americans are not imperialists.
The British were imperialists, and proud of it.
If you're going to teach language, you should use words properly.