外国人: 去印度感受到的最大的文化冲击是什么?

What was your biggest culture shock going to India?

你去印度感受到的最大的文化冲击是什么?

QUORA网站读者评论：

来源：三泰虎    http://www.santaihu.com/45947.html       译者：Joyceliu

外文链接：https://www.quora.com

Susan Maneck, I have a PhD in South Asian and Middle East history and was married to an Indian

Mind you, I was in India some thirty years ago and I’m told a lot has changed since. But here is what stuck out to me at the time:

请注意，我三十年前曾住在印度，我听说从那以后发生了很多变化。但在当时，有一点让我印象深刻:

1.The smell of human waste and men relieving themselves anywhere and everywhere. (Okay, they preferred certain walls.)

1、人类排泄物的臭味，男人随地大小便。(好吧，他们更喜欢某些墙壁。)

2.Lepers reaching their handless arms through through the window of my taxi begging.

2、麻风病人把没有手的手臂从我的出租车窗口伸进来乞讨。

3.When invited to someones house to eat rather than us sitting down and eating together they would stand and serve me. That gave me the willies especially since I had to eat slowly, not being used to the spices.

3、当被邀请到别人家里吃饭，我们不是坐在一起吃饭时，而是他们会站起来为我服务。这让我感到不安，尤其是因为我吃得速度很慢，不习惯吃辣椒。

4.I’d speak English and they would speak English but it was weeks before we could understand each other.

4、我会说英语，他们也会说英语，但过了好几个星期我们才互相听得懂对方在说什么。

5.Men walking down the street holding hands.

5、男人手牵着手走在街上。

 

Anonymous

I found it strange that in India people worship animals like cow, elephant, monkey, and snake. But they openly lynch, vandalize and kill fellow human beings without any remorse.

我觉得很奇怪，印度人崇拜牛、象、猴、蛇等动物。但他们公开地动用私刑，肆意摧残和杀害同胞，毫无顾忌。

Women are worshiped in the form of Kali, Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati - but 1,000s of girls and women were trafficked, assaulted, raped and murdered every year.

时母、战争女神、吉祥天女和辩才天女等女性形象受到崇拜，但每年有1000多名女孩和妇女被贩卖、袭击、强奸和谋杀。

 

Lakshmi Kimmu, Writer at Fiction (2018-present)

I remember when I first when to Chennai back in 2007, the first thing that disturbed me was the garbage.

我记得2007年第一次去金奈的时候，第一件让我不安的事就是垃圾。

There was & still is garbage all over the place. Ugh!!!

到处都是垃圾。啊! ! !

 

Paul Davies, CEO and Publisher of Bite-Sized Books

Undoubtedly it was Indian Standard Time - which is one of those huge jokes that India plays on the world, where everyone in India understands the concept but the rest of the world is left bemused. It isn’t the use of one time zone for a big country and using a time that is half an hour out for nearly every other time zone - but that doesn’t actually help.

毫无疑问，是印度标准时间——这是印度对全世界上开的一个大玩笑，在印度，每个人都明白这个概念，但世界上的其他人却对此感到困惑。这个大国并不使用同一个时区，而几乎每隔一个时区都跳过半个小时的时间——但这实际上并没有帮助。

Having turned up for my first business meeting in India some thirty minutes late - which as a Brit I found excrutiating - I was welcomed by the CEO of the organisation we were main suppliers to with the greeting: Thank you for coming early. I thought this was a rather pointed statement and one that I should apologise for - but no, we were thirty minutes later than the agenda time and earlier than expected. After the meeting, my sales director asked me why I was so puzzled. I hate being late for anything. But we were late and yet he said we were early. Was it a joke? I said. Sandeep said: You have to understand IST - which isn’t Indian Standard Time, but Indian Stretchable Time. In all my years dealing with India I don’t think I ever was comfortable with IST - but I did learn to live with it. Even to the extent of actually making meetings begin at midnight (or thereabouts) because I knew I couldn’t guarantee that I’d be free before then.

我在印度的第一次商务会议迟到了大约30分钟——作为一个英国人，我觉得这让我非常难堪——我受到了该组织首席执行官的欢迎。我们是这场会议的主要供应商。我认为我应该为此道歉——但是，不，我们比议程时间晚了30分钟，但也比预期的早。会后，我的销售总监问我为什么这么困惑。我讨厌做任何事迟到。但是我们迟到了，可是他说我们早到了。这是个笑话吗?我说。桑迪普说:“你必须明白，这不是印度的标准时间，而是印度的可拉伸时间。在我与印度打交道的这些年里，我觉得我从未对它感到自在过——但我确实学会了忍受。甚至在午夜(或大约午夜)开始开会的程度上，因为我知道我不能保证在那之前我会有空。

 

Margaret Symons, former Teacher

The disrespect and rudeness from Northern Indians going to the West Coast of South India for a holiday and then treating those in the Hospitality Trade very badly. I didn't like seeing the abuse from Indians towards waiters, cooks and the owners of restaurants. I'd always sneak back to the kitchen staff and give them a tip because I felt that they didn't deserve the abuse from Indians who considered themselves better than others. . The same rudeness would sometimes happen in hotels. They would come in late and make a lot of noise until two or three am and expect their big mess to be cleaned up by hotel staff the next day. Sometimes they'd start throat and chest clearing about 5am and because the noise had only subsided at 2am there wasn't much sleeping time for other guests. ….Generally, I felt so embarrassed at the rudeness of customers towards hospitality workers who were trying hard at their job. I'm very sorry that I am stating this as I love India. But I truly believe that the Indian hospitality industry tries hard to make things great for guests and the industry doesn't need this disrespect.

北印度人去南印度西海岸度假，然后对那些从事酒店行业的人很不好。我不喜欢看到印度人对服务员、厨师和餐馆老板的辱骂。我总是偷偷溜回厨房给他们小费，因为我觉得他们不应该受到印度人的虐待，他们总认为自己比别人好。酒店有时也会出现同样的无礼行为。他们会很晚才来，制造很多噪音，直到凌晨2点或3点，并期望他们制造的大混乱第二天会被酒店的工作人员清理。....总的来说，我为顾客对努力工作的酒店员工的粗鲁行为感到尴尬。很抱歉，我这么说是因为我爱印度。但我真的相信，印度的酒店业努力为客人创造美好的生活，而这个行业不需要这种不尊重。

 

Ben A. Wise, lived in India

My biggest culture shock in India was being stared at.

我在印度最大的文化冲击就是被人盯着看。

Becoming someone else’s entertainment.

成为别人的娱乐对象。

While they took a dump out in the open.

当他们在露天大便的时候。

 

JohnRich R. Levine, Perioperative Doctor of Nursing Practice

My biggest culture shock going to India is not as shocking as it is life-changing.

我去印度最大的文化冲击并不像改变人生那般令人震惊。

blurs your shadow with vibrant colors,

用鲜艳的色彩模糊你的影子，

screaming cars,

尖叫的汽车,

wandering cows,

流浪的牛,

trains overly decorated with humans all over it,

火车上到处都是人，

endless ehm, slums,

没完没了的贫民窟,

elaborately ornate palaces and temples,

装饰华丽的宫殿和圣殿，

and oh-so-sweet smelling incenses in the air.

空气中弥漫着香甜的气味。

Humanity is lavish and to the brim in India, literally chatting and chanting on top of you while you struggle for space on an overbooked train. There are two options to make it:

印度的人情味十足，当你在超员的火车上为位置苦苦挣扎时，你会在车顶上侃侃而谈，念叨着什么。

In India, people will roll down their windows to chat with you in the middle of a traffic jam. I also got help when I was lost, which was neat. Forget about wanting to be invited. You don’t need to worry any of that. They will invite you for a cup of tea, burp, fart.

在印度，在交通堵塞的时候，人们会摇下车窗和你聊天。当我迷路的时候，我也得到了帮助，这很好。忘了想要被邀请吧。这些你都不用担心。他们会邀请你喝杯茶，打嗝，放屁。

My experience taught me:

我的经验告诉我:

1.To talk to strangers. We are all family in this planet.

1、和陌生人说话。我们都是这个星球上的一家人。

2.Expect and enjoy the unexpected.

2、期待和享受意想不到的事情。

3.Find humor in everything

3、在一切事情中找到幽默的一面

4.Join the party.

4、参加派对。

5.Live in the moment

5、活在当下

6.Time spent enjoying yourself is time well spent

6、为享受生活所花的时间是值得的

7.Share your space

7、分享你的空间

8.Loosen my bone.

8、放松我的骨头。

Life is a party in India.

在印度，生活是一场聚会。

 

Benjamin Mackley, Lived in India for 3 months

Men holding hands

男人手牵手

That’s me on the right. I was a bit surprised when it happened! Not something we do very typically in America. I was a little confused at first because only lovers hold hands in places I’ve been. I’ve had it explained to me that it is something that friends do, although I still don’t understand all of the unwritten rules about it.

右边是我。发生的时候我有点惊讶!这在美国并不常见。一开始我有点困惑，因为我去过的地方只有恋人会牵手。有人已经向我解释过，这是朋友们做的事情，尽管我仍然不明白所有关于这一点的不成文规则。

The cows in the streets.

街上的牛。

I had seen lots of dogs in the streets in other countries, but I could not get over the cows! Whenever we would come across a cow we would take pictures because they always acted like they owned the roads.

我在其他国家的街道上看到过很多狗，但我无法忘记奶牛!每当我们遇到一头牛，我们都会拍照，因为他们总是表现得好像他们拥有道路一样。

The history of the temples.

寺庙的历史。

There was always so much to learn when we went and visited the temples. America’s history goes back a few hundred years, but anything a few hundred years old in India was new. There are so many temples with such a rich history.

当我们去参观寺庙时，总是有很多东西要学。美国的历史可以追溯到几百年前，但在印度，几百年历史的东西都算新的。印度有非常多历史悠久的寺庙。

Everyone wanted a picture with us!

每个人都想和我们合影!

It was like we were famous. I especially loved it when kids would ask. I think they just wanted their picture taken more than anything. Given how photogenic they are, you can tell this probably wasn’t their first photoshoot!

就好像我们很出名一样。我特别喜欢孩子们问的时候。我想他们只是想拍照。考虑到他们是多么上镜，你可以看出这可能不是他们的第一张照片!

I loved going to India. We have a few friends here from India but the topic of culture never came up until we asked. I wish we would have had the time to stay and learn Telugu or Hindi well enough to be “shocked” more than we were. We still look back on our time there as extremely rewarding.

我喜欢去印度。我们在这里有几个来自印度的朋友，但直到我们问起，文化这个话题才提出来。我希望我们有时间留下来，好好学习泰卢固语或印地语，让自己比以前更“震惊”。我们仍然认为在那里的时光是非常值得的。

 

Eleanor Foong, Lives in Singapore; travelled to parts of Asia

I hope this isn't taken negatively. I absolutely love India, the food and culture.

我希望这不是负面的。我非常喜欢印度的食物和文化。

My biggest culture shocks while in India would have to be personal space and people in India stereotyping me/us.

我在印度最大的文化冲击是个人空间和印度人对我/我们的刻板印象。

I was with my boyfriend in Hyderabad in mid 2013.

2013年年中，我和男朋友住在海德拉巴。

In Singapore, people are mindful of their personal space as long as they are not travelling in trains/buses during rush hour. However, people in India are not really mindful of their personal space. It’s nothing bad, just a different culture.

在新加坡，只要不在高峰时段乘坐火车或公共汽车，人们就会注意自己的私人空间。然而，印度人并不在意自己的私人空间。没什么不好，只是文化不同而已。

My boyfriend doesn't look like the stereotypical Southeast Asian. He’s from Philippines. He looks more like a mix of Hawaiian + Australia + Pacific islander. He has sort of an Afro hairstyle, slightly tan complexion, slightly small eyes.

我男朋友不像典型的东南亚人。他来自菲律宾。他看起来更像是夏威夷+澳大利亚+太平洋岛国的混血儿。他留着非洲式发型，肤色略黑，眼睛略小。

Many men in India looked/stared at him. This made me feel very uncomfortable. I actually wondered if they were closets gays. My complexion is slightly fair for a Singaporean. Somehow, people asked if I'm from Nepal. I said no; I'm from Singapore. They had no idea where Singapore is. Somehow, if one isn't from Nepal, it will be Hong Kong, Australia or the United States.

许多印度人都盯着他看。这让我觉得很不舒服。我想知道他们是不是同性恋。作为一个新加坡人，我的肤色略显白皙。不知怎么的，人们问我是不是尼泊尔人。我说不是，我来自新加坡。他们不知道新加坡在哪里。而且不知何故，如果一个人不是尼泊尔人，那就是香港、澳大利亚或美国人。

I really felt like we were “over stared” at in India.

我真的觉得在印度我们被“过度关注”了。

 

Diana Petkova, social scientist, lecturer, researcher, author, meditator

Several things struck me when I visited India for the first time.

当我第一次访问印度时，有几件事令我震惊。

1). I was shocked by the tons of trash in the streets and by the fact that everybody was throwing trash everywhere. It takes some time until one gets used to see very dirty places in India.

1)街上成堆的垃圾令我震惊，每个人都把垃圾扔得到处都是。人们需要一段时间才能习惯在印度看到非常脏的地方。

2). The cultural shock was related with the fact that many people would never say “No” or “I don’t know”. I spent more than 2 hours roaming in search of a place and I asked several people to help me for the direction. They gave me completely different instructions and I was very confused. Some of them would wave with the hands showing a direction without actually knowing the place. It turned out this is easier for them than just saying “I don’t know”.

2)文化冲击与许多人从来不说“不”或“我不知道”有关。我花了2个多小时去寻找一个地方，我请了几个人帮我指路。他们给了我完全不同的指示，我很困惑。他们中的一些人会在不知道具体位置的情况下用手示意方向。事实证明，对他们来说，这比说“我不知道”更容易。

3). The first time when I came to India I was traveling in rural areas of Tamil Nadu. I remember how the people were gathering around me and gazing continuously at me. In these moments I felt like extra terrestrial.

3)我第一次来印度去了泰米尔纳德邦的农村地区。我记得人们聚集在我周围，目不转睛地盯着我。在那时候，我感觉自己像是外星人。

4). Time management in India was another shock too. Once I took a rikshaw and the guy was supposed to bring me to an address. In the middle of the way he stopped in a gas station and he said “No gas, mam”. But the problem was that the gas had finished at the gas station and the owner said “Wait only 5 minutes and the gas will come”. We waited about 40 min. but the gas was not coming. Happily another rikshaw passed by and I took it, otherwise we would probably stay 40 min. more. When people in India say “5 min” it can be half an hour, it can be an hour. Waiting in the post office 1 hour for a service, which can be done for 10 min. was another similar experience, which repeated several times.

4)印度的时间管理也是另一个冲击。有一次我乘坐了一辆人力车，那个人应该带我去一个地址。途中，他在加油站停下来，说:“女士，没油了。”但问题是，加油站的汽油已经用完，车主说:“只要等5分钟，汽油就会来。”我们等了大约40分钟，但是汽油还是没有来。幸运的是，又有一辆人力车从我身边经过，我改乘了，否则我们可能会多呆40分钟。当印度人说“5分钟”可能是半小时，也可能是一小时。在邮局为了某事等上一个小时，但可能只需要10分钟就能搞定，这是又一个类似的经历，重复发生过好几次。

5). There is a big paradox in India: although people avoid saying directly “no”, they will interfere in the personal issues of the individual and they will ask directly questions, which can be considered impolite and funny in Europe. Many times they asked me questions like “Why didn’t you marry?”, “Why didn’t your parents arranged a marriage for you? Didn’t they find a suitable candidate?”, etc. Most of these questions for a European cannot but bring laughter.

5)在印度有一个很大的悖论:虽然人们避免直接说“不”，但他们会干涉个人的个人问题，他们会直接问问题，这在欧洲被认为是不礼貌和滑稽的。很多次他们问我诸如“你为什么不结婚?”，“你父母为什么不为你安排婚事?他们没有找到合适的人选吗?”等等，对于一个欧洲人来说，这些问题中的大多数都让人忍俊不禁。

The list can continue on and on but these are my experiences of culture shock in India

这个单子还可以继续下去，但是这些是我在印度文化冲击的经历

 

 

Nikee Kapoor, Travel Consultant at Flights to India

I was born in London but that was the only time i ever lived in India, since then I have remained in London, but last year after so many time finally visited India, for some relative marriage, which as per my father was beyond doubt and questions.

我出生在伦敦，但那是我唯一一次在印度生活，从那以后我就一直呆在伦敦，但去年，在过了那么长时间，我终于访问了印度，为了出席某个亲戚的婚礼，据我父亲所说，这是毋庸置疑的。

MY grand mother used to tell me those nostalgic stories of peaceful places like in villages and made it sound like heaven,however things were not as they always sound.

我祖母过去常给我讲那些宁静的乡村里的怀旧故事，让它听起来像天堂，但事情并不总是那么美好。

first thing that I felt unusual was ,you lose your privacy to thing and decide about cab and taxi you want to hire, driver will just surround you like bees and keep asking you,sir,where go?

我感到不寻常的第一件事是，你失去了隐私，我决定租一辆出租车，司机会像蜜蜂一样围着你，不停地问你，先生，去哪儿?

there always crowd and hustle, bustle everywhere, no traffic rules but still the chaos has its own way of working out, god knows how, you can see evolution of public transport on Indian road, from walkers, to cyclist, to Tonga, cars and super cars, everything jam packed.

那里总是到处熙熙攘攘，没有交通规则，但是混乱还是有自己的解决办法，上帝知道，你可以看到印度公路上公共交通的演变，从步行者，到自行车手，到汤加，汽车和超级汽车，所有的东西都挤在一起。

marriages are an affair like festival, those who are getting married are made to feel like king,there so much dance and everything, it’s a carnival in itself.HOOF

婚礼就像一个节日，那些即将结婚的人会觉得自己像个国王，有那么多的舞蹈和一切，它本身就是一个狂欢节

people are nice and rude both at the same time, no HUMBLENESS AND SUNSHINE wherever you go,yes you get cheated, you get rash comments, pick pocketed, but then its the same situation everywhere.

人们既友好又粗鲁，无论你走到哪里，都没有谦卑和阳光，是的，你会被欺骗，你会得到鲁莽的评论，被扒窃，但无论在哪里，情况都是一样的。

and overall the charm of culture, tradition and modernity all around the place,overall its a country of people and traditions, of colors and festival, and yes the INCREDIBLE INDIA.

从整体上看，文化、传统和现代的魅力无处不在，从整体上看，印度是一个充满着民族和传统、色彩和节日的国家，还有令人难以置信的印度。

 

Sanjay Mishra, A Social Observer (2015-present)

I am not sure what sort of culture shock you are talking about ? You may see some animals like cows and dogs are walking on the streets with similar freedom like human. Excess freedom, huge crowd and most importantly foods are very much affordable even cheaper than any countries.

我不知道你说的是哪种文化冲击?你可能会看到一些动物，比如牛和狗，在街上行走，像人类一样自由。过度的自由，巨大的人群，最重要的是，食物比任何国家都便宜得多。

Look at India in spiritual perspective not material perspective. If human is given freedom he will behave in the same way he is behaving in India.

从精神而非物质的角度来看印度。如果人类获得了自由，他的行为就会和他在印度的行为一样。

 

Ramesh K Meda, CxO Mentor, Tech Incubator, Farmer, CEO & CTO, Friend

I guess I am not qualified to answer this… I am an Indian.

我想我没有资格回答这个问题，我是印度人。

For a person from eastern culture, I guess it is not much of a shock at all…

对于一个来自东方文化的人来说，我想这一点都不令人震惊……

For a person from western culture… hmm… organized chaos. Both ends of spectrum living in strange harmony. India is not black and white, but million shades of gray with hue thrown in…

对于一个来自西方文化的人来说……嗯……有组织的混乱。生活在奇异和谐的两端。印度不是黑白相间的，而是千万种带着色彩的灰色……

 

Pankaj Gupta, 12 years studying Indian knowledge and non-scientific attitude of modern science

Being an Indian, coming from Rural place and living in metros, here are what I find shocking:

作为一个来自农村、住在大城市的印度人，我觉得很震惊:

• ‘Not Thinking’ has become a fashion and thoughtfulness is fed back as outdated.
• “不思考”已经成为一种时尚、体贴和过时的反馈。
• Listening to parents is considered forbidden and new generations consider to go against as first choice.

听父母的话被认为是不可以的,新一代将违背父母作为第一选择。

• Common sense has gone extinct

常识已经灭绝了

• Most people have no individuality and think that they require external material to be able to express themselves

大多数人没有个性,认为他们需要借助外部材料才能表达自己

• People blindly believe those who abuse our on culture, knowledge and ancestors.

人们盲目地相信那些侮辱我们的文化、知识和祖先的人。

 

Babara Schroder, former Secretary

If you are seeing that picture above, you might be wondering what’s going on. Let me solve the misery, That’s is a DUNG war going on there.

如果你看到上面的图片，你可能会想知道发生了什么。让我来解决这个问题，那是一场正在进行的牛粪战。

One of the biggest India culture shock I have ever come across.The video at source: DUNG WAR: Indians hit each other with cow dung for good health, prosperity and Rain reveals that “people in Andhra Pradesh’s Kairuppala village. take part in the annual Pidakala Samaram”

我遇到过的最大的印度文化冲击之一。视频来源:牛粪战争:为了健康、好运和雨水，印度人互相用牛粪打对方。 "

Which is referred to as Dung war. It is however said that “it is an annual ritual, which takes place the day after Ugadi. Also, which is the name for New Year celebrations in certain Indian states”

这就是所谓的“牛粪战”。然而，据说“这是一种一年一度的仪式，在乌加迪之后的第二天举行。”这也是印度某些邦庆祝新年的说法。

According to Viral Gossip Talk “it Represents a mythological marriage dispute between Goddess Bhadrakali and Lord Veerabhadra Swamy.”

根据流传甚广的流言蜚语，“这代表了女神巴德拉卡利和领主维拉巴哈德拉·斯瓦米之间的神话婚姻纠纷。”

Just Imagine being in the contest where Cow shit is being throw at you and it’s all fun and it is believed to bring good health, prosperity and Rain.

想象一下，在比赛中，牛屎被扔向你，这很有趣，相信它会带来健康、好运和雨水。

I must say it is the biggest culture shock for anyone that would be going to states in India where this is carried out

我必须说，这是对任何将要去印度开庆祝这一活动的邦的人来说最大的文化冲击