Hello everyone!

My post today is inspired by many conversations I’ve had with my boyfriend, who is from Venezuela. We often fall into conversation about the ways in which our cultures differ. So today, I’m going to explore some of the funny and interesting differences between U.S. culture and Latin culture that we have found so far!

Before I start, please note that this list of differences is purely subjective. It’s based on the things we have discovered and found to be different. I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments and if you agree or disagree with our list!

1. The importance of family: The first difference that we talk about a LOT is the importance of the family. Culturally, American families are often a bit more independent, with the most importance placed on the nuclear family. It’s also quite common for children to move out or become independent at age 18 or soon thereafter. Children want to own their place and live by themselves, and it is less likely that they’ll have their aging parents move in with them, for example (though this is definitely not always the case!). However, in Latin families, there is a huge amount of importance placed on the family as a whole. When I first met my boyfriend, I was quite confused by the way he described his family and struggled to place each person and his relationship with them (brother, sister, cousin, close family friend, etc), because the way we classify family is slightly different. It’s also much more common for children to live with their parents until they’re older, or for aging parents to move in with their children. 

2. Dancing: While there are communities of people in the US who love to dance, the culture of dancing in the US is nothing compared to dancing in Latin America. Whereas I was not taught how to move to music at a young age, my boyfriend was informally taught to dance by his parents and his family in general, when he was very little, which is very common. Because dancing is such an important cultural activity, and everyone knows how to dance, children learn to dance more or less by osmosis. This should be no surprise, I mean, we all know the name of at least one Latin dance (like the Salsa for example). Plus Latin music is very danceable, and there is a beat to follow unlike much of the popular American music, which does not lend itself to beautiful dances. 

3. Language! And here we come to our grand debate, which language is easier, Spanish or English?
   
   I vehemently argue that English is easier because our tenses are simple-especially the subjunctive! We do not use the subjunctive which immediately makes English easier than Spanish in my book; we do not use multiple “you’s”, and we the way we put sentences together is so simple (if you don’t agree with me, then look at some other languages because comparatively, I find English to be quite simple). However, English pronunciation is a mess, and I concede that it is quite difficult to learn and understand.
   
   He argues that Spanish pronunciation is easier than English because it is simple, however, the tenses are more difficult. There are only 5 vowel sounds in Spanish, compared to 20 vowel sounds in English. He also argues that although the wider range of tenses and therefore conjugations in Spanish can be difficult to pick up, once you understand it, the subjunctive in Spanish makes the context in conversations easier to pick up on; essentially, there is less left to the chance of interpretation. In the end, we don’t have a clear winner about which language is easier and which is harder. There are elements of both that are difficult and others that are simple. We would love to hear your opinion. Which language do you think is easier, and why? 

4. Delicious Venezuelan and Latin delicacies vs. American food: here’s our most delicious comparison-FOOD.
   
   There is a wide array of his favorite Latin and/or Venezuelan foods. Arepas, empanada, hayacas, tacos, enchiladas, asados (barbecues), and more. Now the cuisine in Latin America is much too varied to describe in this post. This is just a small example of all the delicacies that exist. Let’s just take a look at some of these meals:

Comparatively, American food is a mismatch of food from other cultures. Our Tex-Mex is an adaptation of Mexican food (and while delicious, is definitely not as good as real Mexican food). Even hamburgers and fries were arguably not created in the US (the name “hamburger” is named after Hamburg, Germany). Hot dogs, fried chicken, various pies (apple, cherry, pumpkin, etc) are quintessentially American. However, when traveling, you don’t often see “American food” restaurants, instead American cuisine is represented by fast food. On the other hand, you definitely see restaurants serving the cuisines of Latin countries.

In this category, we agree that Latin food wins. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Do you agree or not, and why?

I’d love to hear what you think about our “cultural differences debate”. Who do you agree with?

Until next time,

Shannon