The American culture, like all other cultures, is unlike any other culture in the world. Our values contrast many values of other cultures, and some foreigners view our habits and values as rude and strange, just as we would most likely view their own habits and values. This ethnocentrism is present in almost every individual in our American culture. Americans have a very big ego and tend to think that “American values and institutions represent the very best on Earth” as stated by Robin Williams in his list of the 13 American values. For example, in many countries in Europe, time means very little to them, and they are not in a rush to get anywhere, while in America, time is money, and money is happiness. Independence is greatly valued in the American culture, and the less dependent you are on even your closest people in your life (including your family) the better. Cultures in South America, for example, value dependence on the family, and you could easily find more than two generations of a family living together in the same house! Europeans greatly value learning foreign languages, and according to Eupedia, most Europeans learn 2-4 languages, while Americans usually only speak English, or English and their original language if they are immigrants. If you look within our culture, you could see how some things we value could seem strange to foreigner, just as some of their values would seem strange to us.
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