Any Dopers from Argentina?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hey, a very good friend of mine has been assigned a school project involving a “cultural interview” with the (country being randomly assigned) objective of finding someone from Argentina as a subject.

Is anyone here from Argentina? Or have a virtual pen-pal from Argentina that would be willing to receive a list of questions and email back the answers (or post here?!)?

2

Paging Estilicon.

3

My husband and I had a harvest intern from Mendoza stay with us for for 4 months last year. We still chat and call each other every month or so. If you email me the list, I’ll ask him if he’s willing and email it to him.

4

I moved this from General Questions to Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share.

Gfactor
General Questions Moderator

5

Thanks, G.

psycat, thanks! I sent it over. Any feedback from them on any or all of the questions would rock!

6

Got it, I forwarded it on. I’ll keep you posted. :slight_smile:

7

I am from Argentina and I would be delighted to answer any question your friend asks. He can write me at frdezavalia at gmail.com. Tell him to use Pantheon in the subject.

8

Estilicon- thanks! I went ahead and sent over the same list of questions I sent to psycat on behalf of my friend.

Some of these questions are incredibly broad or perhaps even irrelevant. Again, please just answer as many as interest you or that you have a personal take on that you don’t mind sharing.

Thanks!!

9

psycat- thank you too! I’m hoping between your friend and Estilicon that my friend won’t have to fabricate too many answers for her assignment. :wink:

10

Too bad it is being emailed back and forth - was sort of looking forward to reading the questions and answers - don’t know all that much about Argentina and would have liked to learn more.
Estilicon, should you feel like sharing some of the Q&A’s, I, for one, would be interested in reading them!

11

DMark- I can post the questions, although they’re kind of dumb lol.

Cultural Interview Suggested Questions:

  1. Identify the culture/and or country of origin for the interviewee. Include how you met the person. What is the format of your interview: face to face, telephone or email? Include any basic information that you may have like gender and approximate age. If he or she is no longer living in their country of birth, how long have they been away?
  2. In their country of origin: how do people greet each other (shake hands, bow, embrace, other). Has the traditional form of greeting been impacted by globalization and if so, how?
  3. How are children educated in their country? Is there a difference in how males and females are educated or certain minorities? What do you think are the primary goals of education in the country and how (if at all) has this changed in the last 50 years?
  4. What is the literacy level (as a whole and by gender)? (The interviewee may not know the answer to this question but you can find the information by looking at Country Watch.com database available at Franklin University’s library web site)
  5. What is the normal dress for men and women? Are there any special traditional items of clothing and when are they worn?
  6. What is the type of government for the country?
  7. What are the major religions? What are the basic beliefs of these religions?
  8. What are the important holidays? Are there special observances of these holidays? Do you feel the attention to these holidays has changed in any way due to the effects of globalization?
  9. What are the types of communications technology available to most people in their daily lives (for example, TV, computers, cell phones, Internet…) How much of a difference is there between rural and urban areas in availability and use of technology?
  10. Where and how do people get married? What is the average marriage age? Is it acceptable not to get married? What is the attitude towards divorce? What changes have occurred in the traditional family structure in your country in your lifetime (or your parents and grandparents lifetime?)
  11. What is the national language of the country? Are other languages spoken and how many languages does the typical person know?
  12. Who are the important national figures in your country (past or present)? They may be in entertainment, art, religion, politics, science etc.
  13. How do people spend their leisure time? How much influence has western culture (movies, clothing, consumer products, foods…) had on the lifestyle and values of most people?
  14. What is the level of availability or type of health care in your country?
  15. Are drugs and alcohol a large problem there and how are they dealt with in your society?
  16. How do you feel your country or region of the world has been most impacted by globalization? This may include both negatives and/or positives.
  17. What do you feel are the key challenges that face your country right now?
  18. What are the most important things (resources, people, knowledge…) you feel your country or region has to offer to the global community?
12

I’ve never heard of globalization affecting how people greet each other. That sounds kind of unlikely to me. Are bows going out of style in Japan? (Actually, that is a serious question.) Obviously, I’m not directing this at you, pantheon, as I know you didn’t write the questions and said several times that some are a bit odd.

If we are going to tailor this to Argentine dopers, I would add the following questions:

1A) Does your milk come in a plastic bag? Why?

2A) Lorenzo Lamas: good or bad?

3A) Traditional national dress: Ramones t-shirt or soccer jersey?

4A) Lady in Red. Is she dancing with me? Cheek to cheek?

13

:stuck_out_tongue:

4A) There’s nobody here. It’s just you and me. This is how I wanna be.

I would love it if Estilicon

14

err, sorry. Keyboard shortcut and/or mis-finger triggered premature entry and I knew a 5min edit window wasn’t gonna cut it…

I would love it if Estilicon were willing to post any answers publicly, but my focus is on helping a friend complete her project, so if he/she is more comfortable answering by email, so be it and more than cool. :slight_smile: If they wish to post any answers here or grant me express permission to do so- I’m 100% down with their effort to fight ignorance. :slight_smile:

Otherwise, as much as I would enjoy it, I feel like I’d be launching a “Ask the Argentinian” thread from the wrong end.

Erdostain, I remarked on the questions multiple times because most of them are so broad that if I were asked about my culture in such a way, it would paralyze me because I would feel like it could take volumes to answer fairly. I can see globalization of greeting though, even write a paper about the spread of “'sup, dawg” or “Namaste” or kissing both cheeks, etc within the US, spreading inwards from coasts, etc. That’s why our (US) diplomats have cultural consultants to make sure if the guy from Dune spits on your table, or the Prince of Saudi Arabia considers it a grave insult if you release his hand first, etc. etc. that you know before you commit a faux pas. “Why did you not educate girls on British custom of…spying glass?!”-Yule Brenner. Knowutimesayin’? But yah…lousy, overly-broad questions that I was embarrassed to re-present.

All I can think is that they are meant, in combination with research papers on selected random countries, for many students, to help slightly de-cultural-centrificitize (scientific term) young US college students by hearing from a native of a certain country for possibly the only time in their lives, and that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Besides, I really got a boost outta being like “Oh yah, I participate in a really cool international message board and I bet there is somebody (or somebody that knows somebody) from any country your instructor comes up with…”. I’m trying to impress the young lady, you see? :smiley:

15

Wow, those questions really are lame; looks like some “demo” questions a teacher might have written on the board as an example for every country on earth, but someone took them verbatim and just forwarded them on.

Almost sorry I asked. Maybe it would be better if Estilicon started an “Ask an Argentinian A Question” thread.

1 For instance, in British English I believe someone from Argentina is called an “Argentine” (pronounced Ar-jen-tie-n), whereas most Americans would call that person an “Argentinian” (pronounced Ar-jen-teeny-an). Which do you consider correct?
2 Speaking of Britain - still hard feelings in Argentina about the Falklands?
3 Do Argentinians in general have any strong likes or dislikes in regards to other South American countries? For instance - do they have great regard for Brazil, but sort of dislike Columbia, etc.?
4 Were the Argentinians happy to hear Rio got the Olympics?
5 I know you don’t speak for everybody in Argentina, but in your opinion and based upon your experience, what does the average person on the street think of the USA today?

16

Yah, they remind me of an elementary school assignment where you pick one and write a paper on just that. So it’s kinda like 18 elementary school school assignments…because if your teacher doesn’t think you’re smarter than a fifth grader- he at least wants you to prove that you can do the work of an entire room full of fifth graders. :stuck_out_tongue:

You see now why I used so many disclaimers. lol.

17

No word back from my pal in Mendoza. Glad Estilicon came through for you! :wink:

18

In formal situations, no. But any time two Spanish skateboarders greet each other with the grandchild of a high five - that’s something they got from globalization, along with the boards and the below-the-ass trousers.

19

Thanks, Estilicon!!! Would you mind if I posted your answers here (minus the first one dealing with your biographical info)? I found them interesting and other dopers have expressed an interest.

psycat90, thanks for trying! :slight_smile:

20

No prob. Just got an email from him saying he’d answer as soon as possible. I don’t know what the deadline is for the project, but I’ll send the email along to you if/when I get it just for the heck of it.