Filipino Culture Vs Canadian Culture

Cultural differences are meaningful in order to communicate effectively with people of other cultures. Sometimes, communicating cross-culturally could mean transforming and redefining your identity to adjust for them. Since I have been here in Canada for four years from the Philippines, I have redefined my previous identity and somehow adjusted it according to Canadian values. In this short essay, I will discuss the difference between the Filipino culture and the Canadian culture in terms of family and politeness, and how I transformed my identity to communicate effectively in Canada.
First, family is an integral part of the Filipino culture, whereas in Canada, divorce is legal and broken families are common. Based on my observation when I visit my Canadian friends’ family, they call their parents on a first name basis and are comfortable in talking to them, they do not do the household chores, and they can move out when they turn 18. On the other hand, we have very close family ties in the Philippines. We have great respect for our parents, so I am not comfortable of calling them by their first names, and we serve them by doing the household chores. Although I respect and love my parents, I moved out when I was 19 to …show more content…
For Filipinos, politeness means respect. In Canada, politeness means apologizing and showing gratitude by saying “sorry” and “thank you” in every situation. In the Philippines, as much as we honour and respect our parents, we cannot tell them everything, and hence we were shy to say those words. When I arrived in Canada, my boss told me that I was not very polite as I don’t use those words when I needed to. That situation made me adapt to the Canadian culture of politeness, and now I can easily say “thank you” and “sorry” to everyone, especially in the Filipino community. Therefore, I adjusted my identity to being more polite so I can communicate effectively here in