As I sit on the porch of the rented cottage, I’m trying to decide what experience I should use for this blog. And it hits me… you’re in Canada, use that!
Yes, I am on vacation in the province of Ontario, on my two-week vacation. During this week I have read Chapter 1 of Moran, Abramson, & Moran’s Managing Cultural Differences and I couldn’t help but think, so how different is Canadian Culture to mine in the United States? Chapter one describes culture as something that “…gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, of how they should behave, and of what they should be doing.” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 11)
I can honestly say the I truly believe that Canadians represent the cliché’s that Americans and other countries around the world have made of them, that Canada is the nicest nation. Everyone that I have encountered has been friendly, kind and courteous. (And this doesn’t only include people that I am paying like clerks, wait-staff, or house-keeping) This aligns well with the stereotype that Canadians are friendly.
So, I thought to myself, is there more to this? Are Canadians really as friendly due to their culture? It seems that this is partly true. According to Catherine McIntyre, only two-thirds of the country think that they deserve their reputation for being nice. Her article provides a brief history of the make-up of Canada, in that the country has been colonized by the French and then later by the British. This seems to have provided the inhabitants of Canada with the history to be more collective rather than individualistic. Americans, in comparison are individualistic as a country and I feel that stereotype is accurate. But there are certainly exceptions to that stereotype.
McIntyre also presents that the nice reputation may only be due to actions and language instead of something more substantial. She states that Canadians use more positive language while Americans use more negative language on social media. “While Canadians commonly used words like “favourite”, “gorgeous”, “great”, and “amazing”, Americans favoured more negative words like “damn”, “hate”, “bored” and “annoying.” (McIntyre, 2017) This in and of itself for me, neither confirms or debunks the stereotype but does provide evidence to support the notion of Canadian niceness.
For me, this post is about recognizing that there are cultural differences that I may not have been aware of prior to lesson 1. And I think that being in a different country, even one so similar to the U.S. as Canada is, provides me the opportunity to see differences in culture first hand and put into practice what I have learned. I cannot provide a full first-hand account to the culture in Canada and how it differs to the U.S., but I can provide my experience.
What I have experienced first-hand in Canada is that the culture here is welcoming, inviting, friendly, and accommodating. I have not seen evidence of ethnocentrism in the week that I have been here. Everything that I have experienced is supports the saying that Canadians are the friendliest nation, as determined through their cultural way of life.
References:
McIntyre, C. (2017, June 28). Do Canadians deserve their reputation for being nice? Retrieved September 2, 2018, from https://www.macleans.ca/culture/do-canadians-deserve-their-reputation-for-being-nice/
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Hello Nicole,
Thank you for your reply. If you want additional information regarding the history of how it is believed that Canadians became to be known as the “nice” country, you can start with the article that I cite in the blog. There is another article that you may find interesting as well it is here. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/why-is-canada-the-most-tolerant-country-in-the-world-luck/article19427921/
Thanks again for the reply and kind words.
I enjoyed your post. I also had the pleasure of visiting Ontario Canada a few weeks back. I also happened to stay in a cottage on the water about 2 hours from Toronto. Our best friends are from Canada and we have gotten to know them very well. I would agree that they are incredibly nice people and very warm and gracious. I also experienced a lot of kind people in Canada. I think you made a good connection between what words Americans favor in comparison to Canadians. “Tradition can program a people as to what are proper behavior and procedures relative to food, dress, and to certain types of people, and what to value, avoid, or deemphasize” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 16). I think all in all the Canadians I have come to know have been incredibly polite and kind. I would love to know more about how they came to be known as the “nice” country.
Works Cited
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9 ed.). New York, NY, USA: Routledge.