DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDONESIAN AND AMERICAN OR ENGLISH CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

INDONESIAN MIGHT:

1. Ask personal questions like:'How old are you', 'Are you married?', 'Where are you going?", etc.
2. Push in lines (in the post office for example).
3. Comment on or joke about someone looking for fat, thin, small, big, etc.
4. Not knock on the door before entering a room.
5. Spit always everywhere or anytime on the street.
6. Laugh when someone makes mistakes or embarrassing situations.
7. Be late for appointment or parties.
8. Hold hand or walk arm in arm with members of the same sex.
9. Throw things out of car windows (plastic bags, paper, cigarettes).
10. Habitually crack their knuckles, elbow joints, necks, etc.
11. Have very long finger nails. For male perhaps only on one hand.
12. Cover their mouths with a napkin or cupped left hand while picking their teeth.
13. Bargaining in traditional market.
14. Say 'yes' or 'maybe 'when they mean 'no'.
15. Use a fork (left hand) and a spoon (right hand) when eating or just the right hand alone (in certain areas).
16. Push food at the guests or insist they eat more even if the guest say they are full.
17. Take off shoes before entering house.
18. Use only their right hand for accepting or offering things.
19. Treat everyone in the group at a restaurant especially if they are the ones who did the inviting or hand the idea to go, pay the bus fare for everyone in the group.
20. Refuse something which is being offered just to be polite.
21. Want to enjoy going to places and doing things in group.
22. Use an umbrella on a sunny day to protect themselves from the sun.
23. Drop in someone without an appointment.
24. Bend over and bow their heads if they pass between two people or infront of a group or audience.
25. Say 'thank you' to mean ' I don't want any'.
26. Take a bath twice a day, and change clothes twice, too.
27. Button up their shirts quite high.
28. Repeat the obvious questions for which the answers have been given.
29. Kiss relatives and children with cheeks 'shift' or shift or the hand.
30. Try to strike up friendly conversation with every foreigner.

AMERICAN OR ENGLISH MIGHT:

1. Appear to show lack of interest in anew acquaintance by not asking questions about family or personal backgrounds.
2. Rush in hurry a lot, being obsessed with staying on their schedules or timetables.
3. Call someone by waving their hand or finger, palm up.
4. Eat or drink while walking down the street.
5. Saying 'no' before saying thank you, as in 'No, Thank you'.
6. Use their thumb or forefinger to remove something from their mouth while eating, without covering their mouth with a napkin or a cupped hand.
7. While lecturing perhaps they sit on the table, sometimes stand or walk with their hands in their pockets.
8. Express anger openly and directly.
9. Offer something only once (like for a food or drink).
10. Rise eyebrows, use direct eye contacts, have a lot of body movements while talking.
11. LICK A STAMP or eat ice cream showing their tongues.
12. Speak rather loudly and quickly without using any polite forms of address.
13. Grab your arm on the back to indicate friendliness, hug friends of the opposite sex without having sexual feelings.
14. Not wear a shirt while playing sport or running (men).
15. Get angry, impatient, or bored if you repeat something.
16. Want to talk openly about politics or criticize their government.
17. Be quite direct in their comments and tone of voice.
18. Wear shorts or old clothes in public, seldom wear formal dresses even in a class or workshop or other meetings.
19. Want to enjoy going to places or doing things alone.
20. Having the 'Pembantu' is not common in their country.

Obviously these characteristics are not always true, but in general these characteristics could be noticed as different in two cultures. However, if we can realize that we are now generalizing and have a sense of rumor about our different cultural characteristics, then such lists can provide good discussion points of course.