What is your view of the American culture?

I've mentioned in my previous post that I would try to incorporate topics about the American culture as part of my blog. In this post, I would like for us to discuss our views of the American culture.

For starters, I believe that one of the best way to learn more about a culture is by listening/watching the jokes that are made by a member of that culture. This may come off as a bit surprising to you but I believe that people often laugh at the jokes that comedians make because there are, for some odd reasons, some truths behind them. The following video that you are about to see is titled "American Culture." The comedian (Russell Peters) will be talking and making jokes about the American culture from his personal point of view.

Before you continue, please note that it is not my intention to offend anyone by showing this video. Thus, please watch the video with an open-mind and see if you can learn something new or even compare notes with what he had experienced and see how much of is true or not true. Read below for more questions and details about the video.





After you have finished watching the video, remember to discuss what you have seen with others by leaving a comment for this posting. Here are a few questions to help you get started:
1) What did you like/dislike the most about the video? Why/why not?
2) Do you agree/disagree with anything that Russell Peters said? Why/why not?
3) Have you learned anything new from the video? If yes, what is it? If not, what are some things that you find interesting and would like to know more about?
4) Have you shared any similar experience that Russell Peters had mentioned in the video? If yes, what are they? (This can be a funny experience from your own culture.)

*Here are some details about the video for those of you who might be interested or unfamiliar with some of the terminology he mentioned. All sources are taken from wikipedia.org*

Russell Peters - Russell Peters was born in Toronto and grew up in Brampton, Ontario in Canada. He is Indian. He has been nominated for four Gemini Awards,the Canadian television awards and for Best Male Comic at the Canadian Comedy Awards. Peters' comedy focuses largely around his Canadian upbringing and racial stereotypes, as he often parodies his parents and South Asian culture. Much of his material explores the cultural divides between many different ethnicities and upbringings in a way that includes many impressions.

chicken dance - The "Chicken Dance" song is accompanied by a dance requiring a group of people, and it goes as follows:

1. At the start of the music, shape a chicken beak with your hands. Open and close it four times, during the first four beats of the music.
2. Make chicken wings with your arms. Flap your wings four times, during the next four beats of the music.
3. Make a chicken's tail feathers with your arms and hands. Wiggle downwards during the next four beats of the music.
4. Clap four times during the next four beats of the music.
5. Repeat this process four times.
6. At the bridge, hold your arms straight, in imitation of an aeroplane. All dancers spin around the room in "flight" until the bridge ends.
7. The dance repeats, progressively getting faster and faster, until the music stops.

Macarena-"Macarena" is a Spanish song by Los del Río about a woman of the same name, or any woman from the La Macarena neighborhood of Seville. It was very successful between 1995 and 1997.The song became the second longest running #1 and best selling debut single of all time in the US.

YMCA - "Y.M.C.A." is a 1978 song by the Village People which became a hit in January 1979. The song reached #2 on the U.S. charts in early 1979 and reached No.1 in the UK around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit ever.A popular dance in which the arms are used to spell out the four letters of the song's title may have much to do with this.


Learning a language is certainly an exciting experience and one of the best way to enhance that experience is by adding some humor into it. So, remember to always make the learning process meaningful and never forget to have fun while doing it! :)

Until next time...