文化差异视角:国际留学生交友并非易事
A recent story in the Chronicle of Higher Education said many foreign students report feeling lonely or unwelcome in Australia. Those feelings are among the reasons why Australia is taking a close look at its International education industry. The government has formed an advisory council to help develop a five-year national strategy for the future of international education in Australia.
《高等教育纪事报》最近发表一篇报道，说很多外国学生在澳大利亚感到孤独和不受欢迎。这是澳大利亚密切关注其国际教育行业的原因之一，政府已经成立了一个咨询委员会，来拟定一份澳大利亚国际教育未来5年的国家规划。But wherever international students go, making friends may not always be easy. The Journal of International and Intercultural Communication recently published a study done in the United States完成
但是，不管国际学生去哪，交朋友并不总是那么容易。《国际文化交流期刊》最近发表了一个在美国进行的研究。Elisabeth Gareis of Baruch College in New York surveyed four hundred fifty-four international students. They were attending four-year colleges and graduate schools in the American South and Northeast.
纽约巴鲁克学院的 Elisabeth Gareis 调查了454名国际学生。他们是在美国南部及东北部参加4年制大学或者研究生的学生。
Students from English-speaking countries and from northern and central Europe were more likely to be happy with their friendships. But thirty-eight percent of the international students said they had no close friends in the United States.
来自于英语国家及中北欧的学生对于他们的友谊更加满意，而有38%的国际学生说他们在美国没有亲密朋友。And half of the students from East Asia said they were unhappy with the number of American friends they had. Professor Gareis says thirty percent said they wished their friendships could be deeper and more meaningful.
来自于东亚的学生有一半说他们对于在美国拥有的朋友数量不满意。Gareis 教授说30%的人希望自己的友情可以更密切、更有意义。ELISABETH GAREIS: "Students from East Asia have cultures that are different on many levels from the culture in the United States. But then there's also language problems, and maybe some social skills, such as small talk, that are possibly not as important in their native countries, where it's not as important to initiate friendships with small talk."
ELISABETH GAREIS说：“来自于东亚的学生与来自于美国的学生在文化的很多层面上都不一样。然后还有语言问题，或许还有社交技巧问题，例如在他们自己的国家中，聊天对于建立一段友情的重要性并不大。”She says many East Asian students blamed themselves for their limited friendships with Americans.
她说很多东亚学生将自己和美国人之间的友情问题归咎于自己。ELISABETH GAREIS: "The vast majority blames themselves, actually for not speaking the language well enough, not knowing the culture well enough. There were also some comments about the college environment, like many of them were in the natural sciences or worked in labs where they were surrounded by other East Asians."
ELISABETH GAREIS：“大部分人将此怪罪于自己，实际上都是语言说的不够好，对于美国文化不够了解。还有些人将此怪罪于校园环境问题，例如他们中有很多人学习的是自然科学或者在实验室工作，在那里他们身边几乎都是东亚人。”
