Kaitlyn Anfinson

Language Development 204

Cultural Comparison
October 4, 2017

Comparing Mexican Culture and My Own

As Americans, there are many cultures that are significantly different than our own.

While being a Speech Pathologist, it is very important that we are culturally competent and

familiar with other cultures that we may come into contact with. If we have a better

understanding of cultures in our community, we will better know how to adjust to meet their

needs and provide the best therapy session possible. The Spanish-speaking Mexican culture is

one that we often see and interact with. Their culture is very different from my own in many

ways. Just one difference is the population in each of our cultures. In 2016, there were 123

million people in Mexico while in the United States there were 325 million. When considering

areas of comparison, religion, food, language, clothing style, and holidays were taken into

consideration.

Starting with the languages, Mexico is almost all Spanish speaking with 95% reported.

Although most people in Mexico do speak Spanish, it was reported that 85% of them were

bilingual. In Mexico, there are 62 known languages. Comparing that to the American culture,

there is no official language of the United States because almost every language is spoken here.

It was reported that 90% of people do speak or understand at least some English making it the

dominant language. Besides English, the other common languages are Spanish, Chinese, French,

and German. In American there are over 300 different languages which is a significantly larger

amount than in Mexico. Because of this, I have probably had a lot more experiences with people

of different languages than someone in Mexico has.

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When looking at the religion, our countries did have differences. In the United States,

71% of people report to be Christian, while 6% claim to be non-Christian, and 23% have no

religion at all. 23% is still a high amount of people that don’t have any religion. In the Mexican

culture, many things for them revolve around religion so it is a big part of their lives. 82% of

people reported to be catholic, and there were smaller amounts of Muslim, Jews, and Buddhists.

There are almost no people in the Mexican culture that have no religion at all. It also seems that

the Mexican people take their religion much more seriously than someone living in America

would.

Besides religion, food is something that is very different between the two cultures. We

are each well known for our styles of food and they are very different from each other. In the

United States, we are known around the world for our “American foods.” This idea of American

food contains hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, macaroni and cheese, and meat loaf. When

looking at food that originated in the United States, jerky, a type of dried meat, was one of the

most common ones. Unlike Mexico, the United States contains different foods and cooking

styles in each region. The southern states are known for their fried chicken, black eyed peas, and

corn bread. The southwestern states are known for their chili, burritos, shredded cheese, and

beans. Mexico has main foods that are used everywhere. They are well-known for their tortillas

and almost any other food made from corn, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and rice. For people of the

Mexican culture, rice is included in almost every meal. Some of the interesting foods that

originally came from Mexico were avocadoes, chocolate, and pumpkins. Mexico is known

around the world for their tequila, which is made from the agave cactus.
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Cultural Comparison
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Style is another thing that varies greatly between the two cultures. In the United States,

someone’s clothing choice is impacted by their social status, religion, occupation, and climate.

Basic American clothing is thought to be jeans, sneakers, cowboy hats and cowboy boots. While

these are thought of as casual dress, our clothing that we wear for fashion is greatly influenced

by the celebrities and media we see on TV. When we start seeing celebrities wearing a new

fashion, a lot of people try to imitate it to be like them. With the Mexican culture, fashion is not

usually the first thing noticed although there are a few major fashion designers that have come

out of Mexico. The traditional clothing for a Mexican woman is a type of cotton sleeveless dress

called a huipil. Although these are still worm sometimes, the more current style of clothing for a

Mexican woman is clothing that has ornate embroidery and clothes that represent symbolic

meanings. This is very different from us because we usually don’t think of our clothes as have

symbolic meanings to them. For Mexican men, the common clothing includes a large blanket-

like cape called a sarape and cowboy boots. An interesting thing in their culture is that a

cowboy’s charro suit can be worn instead of a tuxedo for important events like weddings or

funerals. This is something that probably wouldn’t be seen as acceptable in our culture.

In addition, our cultures celebrate different holidays than each other. The main holidays

that are recognized in Mexico is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is when the virgin

Mary appeared to an Indian man, Day of the Dead, which honors those who have died, Carnival,

which is the period celebrated before lent, and Independence Day, which is when they celebrate

their separation from Spain. Just like them, we also celebrate and Independence Day which

recognizes our independence from Britain. Other holidays we celebrate that they don’t include

Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, President’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas. Even
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though our Halloween has a different purpose than their Day of the Dead, they are celebrated in

similar ways with the same kinds of decorations and characters.

Each culture has their own unique traditions that they practice. In the Mexican culture,

they have a Quinceanera. This is celebrated on a girl’s 15th birthday and it represents her

transitioning from childhood to becoming an adult. The girl wears a fancy dress, makeup, and

flashy jewelry. The actual celebration can vary family to family, but most of the time this

celebration resembles what we would see at a wedding. There is a lot of music and dancing and

all of the girls’ friends and family help her celebrate becoming a woman.

Another popular tradition in Mexico is bullfighting. It was believed to have started about

500 years ago with the conquistadores. In some families, being a rider during the fights is passed

down through the generations and it becomes a family event. While bullfighting is a

controversial topic, for many families it is an enjoyable family outing. The largest bullfighting

ring in the world is located in Mexico. Children are only allowed to attend bullfighting if they

have an adult with them. As mentioned previously how religion is a big part of the Mexican

culture, Mexico holds religious festivals that pertain to the bullfighting.

Apart from this, Americans have many traditions of their own. One of my biggest family

traditions happens during Christmas. Every year, we help my mom decorate the tree with

ornaments we have made throughout our lives and we also put up decorations throughout the rest

of the house. On Christmas Eve, we always go to church with my grandparents and go back to

their house for a big Christmas dinner. The meal usually includes turkey, lefse, mashed potatoes,
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salads, and buns. We have this meal with my immediate family, grandparents, and cousins.

After dinner, we all gather in the living room to exchange gifts with each other.

In addition to this, another tradition of my family is celebrating the 4th of July. This is

our biggest family reunion throughout the year and our family comes from all over to meet at our

Cabin in Spicer, Minnesota. Luckily for me, this was my hometown and I never had to travel as

far as the others. A couple other family members of ours live in Spicer, so the family members

that come from far away split up and stay at our houses. Each day, we play a lot of games and

enjoy food together. Our favorite games to play are bean bags, cards, and make-believe horse

races where we gamble with cards. Every night, the families take turn making the meal for

everyone. We spread out throughout the house and yard and enjoy dinner together every night.

On the night of the 4th, we enjoy setting off fireworks and watching other people’s go off around

the lake.

Culture is something that is very important to each person’s life and it greatly depends on

where you live. My culture looks very different from those in Mexico and they would say the

same thing about me. We all have our things that are important to us, whether it be language,

religion, clothing, or holidays and we all express them differently. It is important to be aware of,

and be competent of cultures other than our own so we can be prepared in our professional fields.

Having an idea of what’s important to others will create more of a positive interaction and

increase the likelihood of successful treatment.

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Language Development 204
Cultural Comparison
October 4, 2017

References

Balbuena, G. F. (n.d.). Bullfighting in Mexico - Mexican Bullfighting | don Quijote. Retrieved

October 03, 2017, from
http://www.donquijote.org/culture/mexico/society/customs/bullfights-in-mexico
Balbuena, G. F. (n.d.). Quinceanera Celebrations in Latin America. Retrieved October 03, 2017,
from http://www.donquijote.org/culture/mexico/society/customs/the-quinceanera
Zimmermann, K. A. (2017, July 13). American Culture: Traditions and Customs of the United
States. Retrieved October 03, 2017, from https://www.livescience.com/28945-american-
culture.html
Zimmerman, K. A. (2017, July 19). Mexico. Retrieved October 03, 2017, from
http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Mexico.html