I was talking to a man who was helping out some immigrant neighbors who were saying their homes were cold. When asked how their furnace was working they basically got the answer “Whats a furnace?”.
Well they were from like Cuba or South America where it never got cold so that big machine in the basement - they didnt know what it was.
Can you think of other things?
I’m from California, and I don’t know what the big machine in the basement is either. Actually, I don’t know what a basement is.
But the point is well-taken. Really, this is going to depend upon where the immigrant is from, at least for material things like furnaces. The more elusive points of acculturation–the non-material things–are never really “taught,” though many people think they can “teach” those things to the “helpless” immigrants. It takes a while, for example, to figure out that when an American uses the term “friend,” it’s often in a very loose way, sometimes using that term to refer to someone he or she’s only just met, (“I met a new friend today!”). Or how Americans signal to end a conversational turn, especially when in the workplace (where they adjust their gaze, and how, depending on who is the superior).
Something like the furnace is actually relatively easy in comparison.
Don’t try offering the authorities a bribe.
I recall reading David Niven’s autobiography years ago. He recounted how his wife Primula died soon after moving to the U.S. after falling down the stone steps to the basement in a Beverly Hills home. Niven remarked that no-one raised in England would expect an internal door to open directly onto a staircase.
So a warning about internal basement doors perhaps.
The OP is better suited to our IMHO forum rather than General Questions. Moved.
samclem, moderator.
(sorry to thread-shit, but…)
Surely there are some things that don’t need to be taught?
No matter what cultural differences you face, you can still use common sense .
And now back to the thread: (well, almost; --this is a just an issue of learning the language: )
I know a newcomer to the US who got confused , and asked about the sign hanging outside the organzation that cares for stray cats and dogs: "Why is it called the “Human Society” ? 
But you do need to pay your taxes and get a drivers licence. In some contries where bribery is not optional, taxes are, and voluntarily filling out forms and identifying yourself is just insane.
However, a lot of things are more subtle than that.
The water safe to drink.
Looking your teacher in the eye is not insulting and offensive.
Saying “What?” is not insulting and offensive.
Girls shoes are different than boys shoes.
Do not get out of your car when stopped by the Police.
Do not sit in the front seat of a Taxi.
There are no teeth twigs. Cut your own, use gum.
Don’t wear a hat at elementry school.
Kids don’t come first/ Women don’t come last.
Americans count favours. They get uncomfortable when they go into debt.
Then there are the tough ones: How much do you tip? Can you turn through a red light? How do you get a credit card? What’s the thing with pets? Why don’t Americans have a sense of humour? What is “alone” and why would anyone want that?
I’ve noticed also about Filipinos, they really go thru money. They dont seem to have the concept of saving for later or even retirement. Someone said in their culture you dont save because later on your friends will take care of you.
Europeans, at least they used to, had trouble with the concept of big discount stores like WalMart and expected small stores with these friendly clerks.
Alot of countries without refrigeration - they go shopping for food almost everyday and make everything fresh. I knew one Bolivian woman who could not think of eating beans from a can and shopping only once a week.
They resettled some of the Lost Boys of Sudan in my area, Among other things, they had to be taught to use a light switch. They came from a situation so primitive they had never seen one before and were unfamiliar with controlling artificial lighting themselves. Likewise every other common household appliance, including water taps and flush toilets. Being young and adaptable they caught on quickly, and they were an extreme case, but it’s an illustration of how an immigrant’s origin impacts what they need to learn.
Some more universal things would be how US sales taxes work, US tipping customs, and a little bit about English measuring units.
Any immigrant to the US intending long term residence should learn some English. That’s about the only universal I can think of.
See, this is a good example. I know this anyway, from exposure to US TV shows and the like, but here in the UK, it’s pretty much expected that you get out of your car when stopped by the police. I guess it’s so that you can’t just drive off again - I don’t know.
But if I’d gone to the US a few years ago and been pulled over, I’d totally have gotten out of my car, simply because I’d have thought that was what was expected.
Tipping.
Driving, lots of things… when David Niven came across the pond to make movies, he was out one night and the cops came up behind him with the lights on, but no sirens. In England, that meant “speed up and get out of the way; I’m in a hurry to get somewhere else.” He sped up, hilarity ensued.
Certain spelling changes are also in order…
In Switzerland at least, this hasn’t been true for a long time. The first time I lived there, in 1967, it was more or less true although there was a giant LVZ by the river. The last time I was there in 2000, even the town of Fribourg had a giant supermarket called Jumbo, that had a complete line of foods and other groceries, as well as a complete line of small and medium appliances (including a small, apartment sized clothes washer). It is what I imagine a Walmart to be, although I have never been inside one.
To change the subject slightly, when my son applied to Case-Western in 1984, he was told that, as a furriner, if he came he would be required to take a one credit course in “The American Way of Life”. For someone growing up in Montreal, this was absurd and he crossed CWRU off his list. But before he and my other kids went off to college in the US, where they would be eligible voters immediately, I had to tell them about the electoral college system. They thought I was making it up. Nobody could design a system so bizarre!
We had students from warm weather countries who had no idea what cold weather and snow and ice meant. They knew it got cold here, but they had never experienced it. Every year, McGill has a warm coat collection to provide unprepared students with at least a little protection until they realize.
So let’s say an immigrant from Brazil (or a fifth generation Floridian) decides to move to North Dakota. Wouldn’t you expect that such a person puts on his thinking cap and does some basic research before embarking on his adventure?
Knowing something intellectually and really grasping how big of an impact it will have are two different things–and the internet gives tons of contradictory information. I mean, I NEVER pack warmly enough when I leave TX for CO in midsummer–I just can’t get it through my head that it’s going to be cold, even though I’ve done it before.
My contribution is the American education system. Having taught my whole career at schools where at least 50% of parents (and a significant portion of kids) are immigrants, I have discovered amazing holes in knowledge about basic things you never think to teach. At the lower levels, it’s things like how to advocate for your kid, how grades work, when to intercede, what the school expects of you. As we move into high school and college admissions, it’s things like the relative importance of grades, rank, rigorous classes, test scores, etc. And then there is navigating the whole college admissions game itself, which is a kludge of such enormous proportions that wealthy, college-educated professionals now pay a specialist $100-$200/hour to help them help their kid navigate it. An immigrant with limited English is so limited in their ability to understand they system or make good choices, and hampered by the fact that much of the advice they do get will be 20 years out of date, and so useless.
Trying to find a way to help people grok this system is a pretty big part of my job, and we’ve yet to find a way to make it easy. It’s like trying to explain contract law or something: there are some broad guidelines, but pretty quickly you get into “it depends . . .”
When I was at baking school we had a number of students from outside the US. One guy from Brazil got a big surprise one day. He got signaled by a cop to pull over and he did. Then, as he would have done at home I guess, he got out of the car and began to walk to the police car.
He told us later “Next thing I knew the officer was out of the car and I had a gun pointing at me!”
Americans can get touchy about personal space. Don’t deliberately get close to someone you don’t know. There’s a lot of space in the US, feel free to claim the couple of feet around you as your own rather than press together like on a subway car.
In the US we walk on the right unless we were raised by wolves and expect you to as well, so do your best not to cluelessly walk into us.
At work you should *very rarely *touch your coworkers. (one of my female coworkers from Nepal got fired over “sexual harassment” but she was touchy-feely with everyone so it feels unjustified)
I’ve done this the other way - many years ago, I left England for Australia. Brisbane, to be precise. I knew it was going to be warm out there, but I didn’t appreciate how much. It was also June - so, the middle of winter in Australia. In my mind, winter = cold. So I took a jacket with me. I felt so stupid when I walked out of the airport, with my jacket on, into the 30 degree heat…
On the other hand, if an otherwise-friendly American gets real, real close to you at what feels like real high speeds, DON’T step back. He knows you’re there, but Americans tend to keep a constant speed and then stop suddenly, rather than slowing down. He’s not assaulting you and stepping back will have negative consequences.
Same with American notions of eye contact: they’re likely to be different from what you’re used to.
The school system has been mentioned. The medical system too, please - with whatever the local variations are.
English. The language. I know it sounds simplistic, but nothing better prepares you for life in a new country than the ability to speak the language with some degree of facility. The rest will follow if you can master that. If you can communicate, you can ask questions about what you don’t know and understand the answers you receive. You can find and hold down a job. You can navigate the treacherous waters of government bureaucracy. The world is your oyster!
If you immigrate legally, it is generally a procedure that takes some time. Once you make the decision to move, sign up for a language class in the language of the country you are bound for. If you are already in your new country, make taking that language class your first order of business.
I wondered about putting in a question about this, but I figured that the thread was mostly about answers, not questions, and I didn’t want to look stupid.