CULTURAL ADAPTATION

An immigrant’s advice for bridging cultural differences.

As a Filipino immigrant who cherished his heritage but also sought to build a future in the United States, Long experienced “countless sleepless nights” and missed “many opportunities” because of his initial failure to understand cultural differences between the Philippines and the U.S. Long uses his own experiences regarding differences in language, jokes, gestures, and food to provide a “worm’s eye view of the things immigrants need to know” as they adjust to life in a new land. Though immigrants are the primary audience, this immensely accessible book is also of value to “native-born” Americans who, as individuals and employers, must adjust to an increasingly diverse, mobile, and globalized world. Dividing human cultures into two broad categories, the author outlines ways to reconcile the collectivist cultures of Asia and Africa, among others, which prioritize duties and obligations to one’s social enclaves, with the individualism of the United States, Great Britain, and other Western cultures that value self-reliance and personal freedom. Blending humorous, personal anecdotes with contemporary sociological and psychological scholarship, accompanied by a helpful bibliography, Long offers immigrants to Western nations pragmatic advice on a range of situations they will surely encounter—opening gifts, sharing food, personal contact, handling disagreement, privacy, and more. Other topics include parenting strategies (many immigrants are shocked by America’s anti-authoritarian, youth-centric culture) and “Third Culture Kids” who had formative development in both collectivistic and individualistic cultures. Consistently upbeat and personable, the book also tackles serious topics, like racism and intergroup competition within immigrant populations. And while the collectivist vs. individualist dichotomy may be reductive and also ignores regional differences within the United States, this well-written, approachable book more than succeeds in its goal of offering immigrants practical guidance on how to overcome cultural divides.

An insightful, realistic approach to improving cross-cultural understanding.