问中国人：去美国时，你遇到的最大的文化冲击是什么？

Competitive_Path8436
I’m from Shanghai and came to the states in 2011 for undergraduate study. Culture shocks: 1) what’s up? The type of questions or general inquiries from strangers or newly met people into my businesses. It put me on the spot to report myself and I felt extremely uncomfortable. Now I expect it and I know they don’t mean it, just treat it like hello or keep it short. I only opens up to friends. 2) Americans are not interested in foreigners. Unlike early 2000 China where we might stop, stare and try to practice our English with a foreigner. We might treat them extra nice. In the US, they won’t bat an eye towards a foreigner. In fact, they expect you to know everything. 3) there is no taxi on the street where you hail extending your arm out. There was very few taxi on the road!! (I’m not in New York City) 4) people speak fast and they have no patience when I process what they said and try to answer. They think you are slow and move on.

我来自上海，2011 年来美国读本科。文化冲击包括：1）“最近怎么样？”这类来自陌生人或新认识的人对我私人生活的询问。这让我不得不当场汇报近况，感到极其不适。如今我已习惯，明白他们并非有意打探，只当是问候或简短回应。我只对朋友敞开心扉。2）美国人对外国人并不好奇。不像 21 世纪初的中国，我们可能会驻足凝视外国人，甚至试图用英语交流，对他们格外热情。在美国，人们对外国人视若无睹，甚至默认你什么都懂。3）街上几乎看不到出租车，更别提伸手拦车了！（我不在纽约）4）人们语速很快，当我需要时间理解并组织回答时，他们缺乏耐心，会觉得你反应慢而直接结束对话。

Competitive_Path8436
Also hangout time - where people would do homework together!!! And talk for a long time. Don’t get it and super stressed about it. I never did it. I don’t even know if we have a word for hangout.

还有“一起写作业”这种社交方式——大家聚在一起写作业！！！还能聊很久。我完全无法理解，甚至感到压力山大。从没参与过这种活动。中文里似乎都没有对应“hangout”的准确词汇。

Border issue is gray and vague: this administration is very tough on people crossing the border but the border isn’t protected or guarded properly historically. In China, the border is protected and I don’t think people can cross it as easily. It’s also not a debate.

边境问题模糊不清：本届政府对越境者态度强硬，但历史上边境防护却一直存在疏漏。在中国，边境防护严密，我认为人们不可能轻易越境。这也不是一个有争议的话题。

Nice shock: how supportive students are to each other. Once I got impatient when I group member couldn’t understand something when another group member was teaching her, it turns out I was in the wrong and it’s okay for people to take a long time to learn and it is okay to not understand.

令人愉快的文化冲击：学生之间相互支持的程度。有一次，当我的组员在教另一位组员时对方迟迟无法理解，我表现得不耐烦，后来意识到是我错了——学习进度慢、暂时不理解都是很正常的事。

Requirement can be negotiatiated: due dates, lateness, etc etc as long as you have legitimate reason and is polite and respectful.

要求可以协商：只要理由正当且态度礼貌尊重，截止日期、迟到等事项都有商量余地。

People don’t look down on people of different professions in general. I saw construction workers ate at college campus. I couldn’t image seeing that in China.

人们通常不会轻视不同职业的人。我曾看到建筑工人在大学校园里用餐，这在中国是难以想象的景象。

The idea that you can enjoy life, you can do what you want. For example I’m starting tennis and I find a group of ladies and we even play matches! In China there was a lot of I’m not good enough to do X. I feel like American culture has a lot of you are good enough feels.

在美国，你可以享受生活，做自己想做的事。比如我开始学网球，找到了一群女士一起打球，甚至还参加比赛！而在中国，常常会有“我还不够好，不能做某件事”的想法。我觉得美国文化中充满了“你已经足够好”的鼓励氛围。

Competitive_Path8436
Bus: bus only stops if you pull a string!! Like WTF I didn’t know what’s the next stop!! And no visual to show what the next stop is. We need to rely on the driver to say next stop but I sometimes couldn’t understand or figure it out. The bus is really difficult to ride at first.

公交车：只有拉绳子才会停站！简直了，我根本不知道下一站是哪里！车上也没有显示下一站的提示。我们得靠司机报站，但我有时听不清或听不懂。刚开始坐公交车真的挺难的。

universalaxolotl
This interesting and sweet, thank you.

这个观点既有趣又暖心，谢谢分享。

mobiuschic42
For point 2: Early 2000s? I had people stop in the street and turn around to watch me when I visited my now-husband’s family in Chongqing in 2019 and 2023! (White American lady)

关于第二点：2000 年代初？我在 2019 年和 2023 年去重庆拜访我现在的丈夫家人时，街上还有人停下来转身盯着我看呢！（我是美国白人女性）

But I occasionally try to practice my Mandarin when I’m out with my toddler and meet Chinese parents and they’re always kind. But, yeah, the US is a nation of immigrants (which my phone actually auto completed for me!) so a foreigner is nothing unusual, but you may occasionally meet people who are interested in your country. But there are lots of Chinese people living here so it’s not hard to meet them.

但当我带着孩子外出遇到中国父母时，偶尔会尝试练习普通话，他们总是很友善。不过，美国确实是个移民国家（我手机输入法都自动联想出这句话了！），所以外国人并不稀奇，只是偶尔会遇到对你国家感兴趣的人。这里居住着许多中国人，要遇到他们并不难。

Competitive_Path8436
Our experience differ for several reasons: 1) you are the foreigner, whenever you go you see first hand whether stare at you try to talk to you etc. 2) I only notice when I encounter people stare foreigner, that’s much smaller chance than you. If I don’t notice, then it also counts against. 3) I’m in the us since 2011 so my experience is pre 2011. 4) I didn’t go out much from 2003 -2011 because of the heavy burden of study study study.

我们的体验差异有几个原因：1）你是外国人，无论走到哪里都能亲身感受到是否有人盯着你看、试图搭话等。2）我只在遇到有人盯着外国人看时才注意到，这概率比你小得多。如果我没注意到，那也算作负面体验。3）我自 2011 年起就在美国，所以我的体验是 2011 年之前的。4）2003 到 2011 年间我很少出门，因为学业负担实在太重了。

BoomerBagel
Do you think US people are less friendly than Chinese?

你觉得美国人是不是不如中国人友善？

Original_Bet_8132
Quite the opposite   

恰恰相反

Competitive_Path8436
No way more friendly.

绝对谈不上更友好。

SchweppesCreamSoda
Chinese people are friendlier by far.

中国人要友好得多。

Washingtongrad
Believe it or not. High fives

信不信由你。击个掌吧。

red_026
Gosh, almost all of us have to play some sort of sport growing up. I think it comes from the extra emphasis on sports culture and celebrations there. It bleeds over into corporate/work culture where we’re often told we’re “part of a team” or “family”. And it’s very satisfying if you get a good clap.

天哪，我们几乎每个人在成长过程中都得参加某种体育运动。我觉得这源于美国对体育文化和庆祝活动的额外重视。这种观念甚至渗透到企业/工作文化中，我们常被灌输"团队一员"或"大家庭"的理念。要是能获得满堂喝彩，那感觉真是棒极了。

LurkerBerker
i remember an anecdote from my dad about when he first immigrated and was learning how to drive. He was surprised that cars only stop being school buses if the sign was out. He said when he learned to drive in Shanghai, drivers always stop and let school buses have the right of way for any sort of stop or turn. He got a strike from his driving instructor in the US for waiting for a school bus to go first at a stop sign intersection even though he was first.

我记得我爸讲过他刚移民时学开车的一件趣事。他当时很惊讶，在美国只有校车伸出停车标志时其他车辆才需要停下。他说在上海学车时，无论校车是停车还是转弯，驾驶员都必须停车让行。结果在美国，他在停车标志路口明明先到，却因为等待校车先行而被教练记了一次错误。

mika_running
America feels so aggressive, for lack of a better term. The way people talk, drive, walk, dress. Loud, intimidating, guard always up.

美国给人的感觉，用个不太恰当的词来形容，就是充满攻击性。人们说话、开车、走路、穿衣的方式都是如此——嗓门大、气势汹汹、时刻保持戒备。

And the fake charm and smiles from staff trying to get your tip. A whole different world. 

还有那些为了小费而强装出的热情与笑容，简直是另一个世界。

red_026
As a regular white American guy, aggression is expected and I never liked it.

作为一个普通的美国白人男性，我早已习惯了这种攻击性氛围，但我从来都不喜欢它。

shinyxena
That’s interesting, when I first traveled to China I thought the same thing about Chinese. Cars honking everywhere, people getting into loud verbal fights over minor accidents on the road, at one point I witnessed a fist fight involving over 20 people. Also the haggling got very intense sometimes. In general I felt Chinese were way more open with their emotions than Americans.

这挺有意思的，我第一次去中国旅行时对中国人也有类似感受。到处都是汽车鸣笛声，人们会为路上小事故大声争吵，有次我甚至目睹二十多人参与的斗殴。讨价还价有时也相当激烈。总体感觉中国人比美国人更直率地表达情绪。

mika_running
In second thought, maybe threatening is a better word than aggressive. People in the mainland are reckless af but I never sensed like they were trying to act hard or ready to hurt me off I crossed them. In the US I felt uncomfortable because people give off a vibe of “I’ll hurt you if you look at me wrong”. Not sure if that’s the vibe they are trying to give off, but it’s definitely what I felt. And doesn’t help that everyone seems to have big cars and big barking dogs either. 

仔细想想，或许用“威慑感”比“攻击性”更准确。大陆人确实行事鲁莽，但我从未感觉他们刻意逞强或准备在我冒犯时伤害我。在美国时那种“你看我不顺眼我就动手”的气场让我不适——不确定这是否是他们有意营造的，但确实是我的真实感受。何况这里人人开着巨型皮卡牵着狂吠大狗，实在让人放松不下来。

shinyxena
Well since there’s widespread gun ownership a fight in USA is always a far more risky endeavor. In general if I meet people upset or whatever I just avoid them because you never know what their limit is to pull out a gun. That said most people are friendly and the only people that have frightened me were homeless and drug users due to unpredictability of their behavior. But yeah in China I felt safer knowing it was less likely a berserked individual was less likely to have a gun.

既然美国枪支普遍，在那里打架总是件风险极高的事。总的来说，如果我遇到情绪激动或行为异常的人，我会尽量避开，因为你永远不知道他们会不会突然掏枪。话虽如此，大多数人还是很友好的，真正让我感到害怕的只有流浪汉和吸毒者，因为他们的行为难以预测。不过，在中国时我确实感觉更安全，因为知道即使有人失控，也不太可能持有枪支。

Magnifique1220
Interesting. I lived in Shanghai for several years and found it way more aggressive than the US. Ive never seen so many people yelling at each other.

有意思。我在上海生活过几年，觉得那里比美国更有攻击性。我从未见过那么多人互相叫嚷。

KartFacedThaoDien
I grew up in the hood and I felt the same way

我在治安差的街区长大，也有同感。

mika_running
China is more hectic in many ways, especially driving. But it doesn’t feel aggressive. It’s hard to explain, but I felt a bit scared in the US due to how people carried themselves in ways that I’ve never felt in other countries. 

中国在很多方面都更显繁忙，尤其是交通。但这并不让人觉得有攻击性。很难解释清楚，但在美国时，我因为人们展现出的那种姿态而感到有些害怕，这是我在其他国家从未有过的感受。

I was also hit by a motorbike in my first time back in mainland for a few years because I’m not used to looking both ways in Hong Kong. So it’s definitely chaotic there. But I never felt like someone was threatening like I felt in America.

时隔几年首次回到大陆时，我还被一辆摩托车撞了，因为在香港（特区）习惯了不左右张望。所以那里的交通确实有些混乱。但我从未像在美国那样，感觉有人对我构成威胁。

-AceCooper-
The US markets itself as the most prosperous country in the world, yet any cities you visit feel like a third world country where everything is just old and outdated. Look at the subways in NYC and compare it to any other counties you visit. The US really needs some upgrades on their infrastructures.

美国总自诩为全球最繁荣的国家，但无论你去哪个城市，都感觉像在第三世界国家——所有东西都又旧又过时。看看纽约的地铁，再对比你去过的其他国家。美国的基础设施真的急需升级换代。

Magnifique1220
Easier said than done. This issue faces many other cities around the world as well.

说起来容易做起来难。这个问题也困扰着世界上许多其他城市。

k4kobe
I beg to differ.

恕我不敢苟同。

Taking his example of Subway in a major metropolitan in New York, most other first world major city outside of North America does not have run down subways like New York does, as well as other major American cities. Look at Asia, look at a good part of Europe. Definitely not something that faces majority of the world at the same level.

以他在纽约大都市区的地铁为例，北美以外的大多数其他第一世界主要城市并没有像纽约以及其他美国大城市那样破旧的地铁。看看亚洲，再看看欧洲的大部分地区。这绝对不是世界上大多数地方在同一水平上会遇到的情况。

It ties in with another posters comment; roads roads and cars, that’s what your government invests in and neglect public transit and salability

这与另一位网友的评论相呼应：道路、道路和汽车，这就是你们政府投资的重点，却忽视了公共交通和宜居性。

dreaminq
In my opinion this has a lot to do with the increasing privatization of literally every industry in the US, as well as lobbying. Car manufacturers, oil and gas companies, real estate developers, etc. all benefit more when more people live in the suburbs and don’t have access to public transportation. These industries are enormous and influential players in the American economy, and they don’t want Americans to have access to good infrastructure, especially public transportation, because they make more money when Americans are more reliant on their respective private industries. They pump money into lobbying for politicians to cater to their whims, resulting in a political structure that serves their industries’ best interests.

在我看来，这很大程度上与美国几乎所有行业的日益私有化以及游说活动有关。汽车制造商、石油天然气公司、房地产开发商等，当更多人住在郊区且无法使用公共交通时，它们都能获得更多利益。这些行业在美国经济中是巨大且有影响力的参与者，它们不希望美国人拥有良好的基础设施，特别是公共交通，因为当美国人更依赖各自的私营行业时，它们能赚更多钱。它们投入资金游说政客迎合它们的意愿，导致政治结构服务于它们行业的最佳利益。

xjpmhxjo
Everyone is tailing on the highway.

在高速公路上，大家都在紧跟着前车行驶。

antifocus
How much food they waste.

他们浪费食物的程度令人震惊。

No-Resort164
There are homeless everywhere even in downtown…..

连市中心都到处是无家可归的人……

CharmingPeony
*especially in downtown   

尤其是市中心

PM_ME_WHOEVER
This was a long time ago now, but when I first came to the states in the mid 90s, I was just shocked about how big the roads were and how many cars were in the road in LA. It was also very surprising how few people walked.

虽然是很久以前的事了，但 90 年代中期初到美国时，洛杉矶道路的宽阔程度和车流量简直让我震惊。更意外的是街上几乎看不到行人。

HosManUre
No tomatoes in ketchup ! And only streaky bacon

番茄酱里竟然没有番茄！而且只有五花培根

blazer4ever
You called yourself 白洁？You really shouldn't..change a name

你管自己叫白洁？真的不该……换个名字吧

PomegranateFederal97
好几年前我搬到美国了。一开始我感觉那些人很穷很肮脏（尤其是纽约黑人），而且非常无礼。所有的建筑（尤其是地铁）好像比我妈还老。但是住了这么多年以后我都几乎没有这类的感觉了。当然我家人不喜欢我的变化啦。但是我总是不喜欢去市中心，又吵又闹又肮脏的。穿的衣服也总是非常莫名其妙的。

starwink617
People love shining on the grass. Chinese usually care very much about avoiding direct sunlight.

人们特别喜欢在草地上晒太阳。中国人通常非常注意避免阳光直射。

yoohoooos
Do you not have Chinese international students at your school that you have to ask on Reddit.....?

你们学校难道没有中国留学生吗，非得来 Reddit 上问……？

Pornfest
People can choose to answer here, asking random international students is awkward and could make them feel uncomfortable.

人们可以选择在这里回答，随便找留学生问会显得尴尬，还可能让他们感到不自在。

Sounds like you have nothing to contribute to the discussion, why did you even comment?

听起来你对讨论毫无贡献，那又何必评论呢？

yoohoooos
Right. The quality. I can make 10 other accounts and say I'm Chinese faking all kinds of comments while in fact I might not be Chinese.

没错。关键在于真实性。我可以注册十个其他账号，假装自己是中国人编造各种评论，而实际上我可能根本不是中国人。

Sounds like you have some garbage to offer....?

听起来你好像有些垃圾要提供……？

Rocky55jeu
Culture shock is not the word living in the South like Tennessee. The people here are mostly white or black. The people really don’t care about foreigners and they are friendly if you are female and pretty. The prejudices are there. There is distance between the Asian groups here. So, be mindful of who you can trust.

在南方比如田纳西州生活，文化冲击这个词都不够形容。这里的人大多是白人或黑人。他们对外国人其实不太在意，如果你是女性且长得漂亮，他们就会很友好。偏见是存在的。这里的亚裔群体之间也有距离感。所以，要留意哪些人是可以信任的。

chupachups90
Cars, you guys really love big cars.

汽车，你们真的超爱大车。

se898
Tipping culture. I was followed outside by a server of a restaurant and asked to pay a tip, after I refused, the server threatened to call the police, and I told him to go ahead and do it, but he didn’t.

小费文化。有次在餐厅，服务员竟然追到门外要求我付小费，我拒绝后对方威胁要报警，我让他尽管打，结果他没打。

nated0ge
Food portions, and the generally reduce availability of healthy/green foods.

食物分量，以及健康/绿色食品普遍供应不足。

This will vary from place to place but in that was my overall experience with food.

这因地区而异，但总体而言，这就是我对美国食物的整体印象。

I went home wanting steam veggies for like a week.

我回家后想吃蒸蔬菜，想了差不多一个星期。

CharmingPeony
So much confidence with no foundation. 

毫无根据却如此自信。

I moved for school so also could be I was young. But I was easily believing what people said because their confident and loud tone.Took me awhile to realize that Americans just talk like that, not necessarily know for sure.

我是为了上学搬来的，可能也因为当时年轻。我很容易相信别人说的话，因为他们语气自信且响亮。花了一段时间我才意识到，美国人只是习惯这样说话，并不一定真的确定。

 Chinese people are also loud in general life but not as confident in school and workplace if they don’t know for sure with expertise, etc. Every opinion is a fact in US you can just say anything with certainty

中国人在日常生活中通常也比较大声，但在学校和工作场所，如果对专业知识等不确定，就不会那么自信。在美国，每个观点都像是事实，你可以对任何事情都言之凿凿。

Individual_Tooth_752
Tipping culture   

小费文化

RukeSkyWokker
I would highly recommend against visiting the US at this time. ICE and violence is a major issue regardless of immigration status. That warning aside, I will continue answering your question.

我强烈建议目前不要去美国。无论移民身份如何，ICE 和暴力都是主要问题。除了这个警告，我会继续回答你的问题。

Food cultural shock, depending on the places you visit. Please understand most Chinese food will not be the authentic but American style foods. Things in America tend to be overly sweet and overly salted. Many pre-made foods have many chemicals in them, so please beware.

饮食文化冲击，取决于你去的地方。请理解大多数中餐可能不是正宗口味，而是美式风格。美国食物往往过于甜或过咸。许多预制食品含有大量化学添加剂，请务必注意。

Pace. The pace that people live in the states are generally slower paced. Compared to HK, it was shocking how slow things are and how slow people moved. Highways and constructions that usually can be done in a month or weeks in China can take years in the USA.

生活节奏。美国人的生活节奏普遍较慢。与香港（特区）相比，这里办事效率之低、人们行动之缓慢令人震惊。在中国通常一个月或几周就能完成的高速公路和建筑工程，在美国可能需要数年。

Depending on where you visit, having a vehicle is mandatory and public transit in most cities are almost nonexistent.

根据你访问的地点，拥有车辆是必须的，大多数城市的公共交通几乎不存在。

Low education. Many people in the USA have fairly low education. But if you are in a college visit program, you are at least dealing with folks who are higher educated.

教育水平较低。美国许多人的教育程度相当有限。不过，如果你参加的是大学访问项目，至少接触的人群受教育程度会高一些。

Violence and crime. It is very high in the USA. Depending on where you are at, some neighborhoods, you will want to stay away from after dark. Some towns don't like people of color there after sundown, called sundown towns.

暴力与犯罪问题。美国的暴力犯罪率非常高。根据你所在地区的不同，有些街区天黑后最好避开。有些城镇在日落之后不欢迎有色人种，这类地方被称为"日落镇"。

This leads me to my next point. There are a lot of guns. A LOT OF GUNS. Per capita, the US civilian owns more guns than any other country by a huge margin. So bewary of confrontations and ill mannered people.

这引出了我的下一个观点：枪支泛滥。数量极其庞大的枪支。按人均计算，美国平民拥有的枪支数量远超其他国家。因此要警惕冲突和举止粗鲁的人。

Police response time are very slow.

警察出警速度非常慢。

Healthcare. By the grace of whoever, don't ever have a medical emergency in the US. We don't have universal Healthcare. Insurance is expensive and a scam and the medical cost is even higher.

医疗体系。谢天谢地，千万别在美国遇到医疗紧急情况。我们没有全民医保。保险昂贵且充满陷阱，医疗费用更是高得离谱。

gjchangmu
Almost every girl would keep looking at me when they noticed I was keeping looking at them.

几乎每个女孩注意到我在看她们时，都会继续回看我。

universalaxolotl
Lol is that a good thing or a bad thing?

哈哈，这算是好事还是坏事？

400meters
Tipping culture is one of the biggest shocks. Maybe less relevant for students who may not be eating out as much, but still a big change from not only Asia, but most of the rest of the world

小费文化是最令人震惊的一点。对于可能不常外出就餐的学生来说，这点或许不那么相关，但这不仅是亚洲，也是世界大部分地区所没有的巨大变化。

MilkDad4
Direct medication advertisements on TV. Especially it comes with crazy side effects “internal bleeding, death, projectile diarrhea, etc”

电视上直接播放的药品广告。尤其是那些附带疯狂副作用说明的——“内出血、死亡、喷射性腹泻等等”。

TuzzNation
You need to pay for the airport suitcase cart. This bs capitalim was real.

机场行李推车居然要收费。这资本主义的鬼把戏真够呛。

HoneyKouha
A lot. It's just a whole different world (not in good way) from Asia. I ended up getting immigration trauma because of it.

太多了。这里和亚洲简直是两个完全不同的世界（不是好的那种）。我甚至因此患上了移民创伤症。

ContraryToPropriety
Food portions are insane and you can get free refill for soda.

食物分量多得离谱，而且汽水还能免费续杯。

And you had to pay tips, which kinda sucked

而且你还得付小费，这有点糟心。