Cultural Learning Strategies Inventory

Put the following strategies in order of how likely you are to use them.

Strategies for when I am in surroundings that are culturally different from what I am used to:

• Figure out what cultural values might be involved when I encounter a conflict or something goes wrong.
• Consider ways in which different cultures might view things in different ways (e.g., how different cultures value alone time or independence).
• Make distinctions between behavior that is personal (unique to the person), cultural (representative of the person's culture), and universal (a shared human concern).
• Counter stereotypes others use about people from my country by using generalizations and cultural values instead.
• Think about different cross-cultural perspectives to examine situations in which I seem to offend someone or do something wrong.
• Look at similarities as well as differences between people of different backgrounds.
• Use generalizations instead of stereotypes when I make statements about people who are different from me.

 Write one to two paragraphs on what strategies will be the most helpful to you abroad and why.

I know that understanding cultural values and their ties to my actions will be critical to my experience abroad. I tend to take things personally; in a situation where there was a misunderstanding or where nobody was really at fault, I usually blame it on myself. If there is an identifiable reason for the misunderstanding, it helps me learn and gives me an explanation of why it happened and what I can do to avoid it in the future. The Senegalese culture is very different from American culture, and I’m sure I’ll run into situations where this will be the case. I know that if I look at it from a more detached perspective and try to figure out what cultural values might be involved instead of just blaming myself, the situation will run much more smoothly and can be resolved and avoided in the future.