NAME : ERNESTA AGATA GINTING

NIM : 2203321054

LASS : DIK ENG 2020 D

THE DIFFERENCES OF FRIENDSHIP

IN AMERICA AND INDONESIA

Humans have the nature that they cannot live alone and must live with the help of others.
If we talk about helping other people, humans also have a bond or relationship term which is
often called friendship. As we know friendship is a very close relationship, which has many
elements of attachment between each individual and other individuals. This time the discussion
is about how the friendship between Americans and Indonesians or how the two compare.

First is about America, Americans are usually polite but they are also very secretive
people. They want to be thought of as kind, friendly, and helpful, but many want to maintain
their personal space and not get too close to other people. Americans value their time very much
(as it relates to their privacy and independence). They are so polite that they don't want to say "I
don't have time to meet up!" They prefer to say, "Sure!" and then not following up. They don't
want to over-commit if they don't have the time or interest. No offense; I encourage you to keep
trying to be friends with us Americans! Those of us who have traveled and studied abroad may
be more open to making international friends

Americans are often open to meeting new people, but they may assume that you
have lots of friends and are very happy. American life, especially in the Northeast, is
fast-paced and highly competitive. Often, Americans don't mix up their categories of
friends ("friends from school" don't mix with "friends of the family," etc.). For
example, you might ask someone from work to go to the movies, but they might tell you
that they already have plans to see a movie with other friends. It may seem unusual that
your colleague doesn't invite you to join his other friends for a movie, but Americans
who might be interested in getting to know you may decline the invitation unless the
correct "friend category" is present. If you express interest in dating again, you may be
invited to other events involving "coworkers."

Short and Long Friendship. Because these "friend categories" can be limited by
time and other factors, people develop many, many relationships in a rela tively short
period of time. The independent spirit in American culture can cause friends to break up
if they feel too dependent on them. Friends may become close again after some time has
passed. Because of this, most Americans develop few lasting friends hips with very deep
personal ties. If you don't like this pattern of friendship, you can discuss your
differences in ideas, especially if your culture allows for deeper relationships with
many people for a longer period of time. Discussing this without jud gment can create an
open dialogue with Americans where they too can understand your culture better .

In modern society, for example in American society, the word "friend" can have different
meanings because of how Americans view friendship. Americans also view friendship in a
unique way because Americans usually have very few friends to truly form a friendly
relationship with. Hospitality is also a factor that makes Americans unique because most
Americans are considered friendly but in their minds they don't try to make friendships with their
hospitality.

Meanwhile, friendship in Indonesia In Indonesia, it's easy if you want to make friends,
most Indonesian people really appreciate new people and most of them are also very friendly,
although some people don't.In Indonesian culture, friendship terms are a little bit narrow. The
only term that is used tocall friends is “teman” which is literally translated as friend. Despite of
using different terms of friendship, Indonesian language uses adjectives to show the degree of
friendships such as “temansebaya” (Friend of the same age), “Teman dekat” (close friend), or
just “teman” (friend).

Mulder (1992 cited in Li, et al, 2015) mentions that friendship rarely lasts in Indonesian
culture. It emphasizes community and social networking, rather than creating strong dynamic
relationships. It seems to be something that is common in society and may also be related to
social norms in the social network where one lives, which is intended to maintain interaction
with everyone, including acquaintances and strangers (Noesriirwan, 1997 cited in Li et al, 2015).
Friendship issues may affect language differently, but the culture in Indonesia, most of them do
not show a big difference with the use of different languages in different contexts. Courtesy does
affect the way people treat their friends, but not too much variety can be found in Indonesian
culture (Li, et al. 2015).