Culture Survey From School in America

Hi,

I am a college student in America at Franklin.edu and have been assigned Lebanon as my primary country to research. I have learned much in my research, and the pictures of your country are very beautiful. I was sorry to see all of the strife and hardships your country has faced in the past, and glad to see that the Lebanon still seems to succeed in spite of these hardships.

I have been asked to find someone from Lebanon that will answer some non-personal questions about their culture.

I have enjoyed learning about your country,

Thank you very much and have a wonderful day,

Mhason
mhason@gmail.com

Cultural Interview
1.Identify the culture and/or country of origin for the interviewee. Include how you met the person. -- Bulletin Board Smile

2.How do people greet each other – (shake hands, bow, embrace, other)?
3.As a visitor to the country, would you exchange gifts at the first meeting? What gifts are considered appropriate? If flowers, what kind? (Some have special meanings.)
4.How are children educated? At what age do they begin school? Do boys and girls generally go to separate schools, or are they separated by sex in the same school? Do they usually wear uniforms?
5.What is the literacy rate for the country? The interviewee may not know the answer to this question, but you can find this information by looking at CountryWatch.com database available at Franklin University’s library Web site.
6. How is garbage collection dealt with?
7.What is the normal dress for men and women?
8.What foods, if any, are generally not eaten or possibly considered taboo?
9.Are there gestures or movements that would not be acceptable in polite society?
10.Is it acceptable to bargain for goods at department stores or at markets?
11.How do people spend their leisure time? What kinds of leisure activities do they participate in?
12.What are normal work hours? Are most stores open on weekends? What days might they be closed?
13.What are the important holidays? Are there special observances of these holidays?
14.Where and how do people get married? What is the average marriage age? Is it acceptable not to get married? What is the attitude toward divorce?
15.What is the national language of the country? Are other languages spoken?
16.What is the principal religion(s) of the country? What are the basic beliefs or doctrines of these religions?
17.Who are (or were) the major artists and writers?
18.What kind of music is popular at this time? Who is the major pop star or movie star at the present time?
19.Do many people in Lebanon have Internet Access?
20.Do many people in Lebanon have Cell Phones?

_________________
Mhason

Thanks for appreciating discoverlebanon.com and loving Lebanon, very kind from you,
So do you need someone to reply to this long survey.. I can do.

Thank you for responding to my message. I would be very thankful if you could reply to the survey questions. I am sorry there are so many questions Smile

The result will be sent only to my teacher at Franklin.edu via email. I will let her know your site's forum as the source of the results.

Thank you and have a great day,

Mhason
mhason@gmail.com

_________________
Mhason

1. Identify the culture and/or country of origin for the interviewee. Include how you met the person. -- Bulletin Board

You met William Matar from Lebanon of DiscoverLebanon.com, sorry to be late for answering due to lot of works to do at the same time.

2. How do people greet each other – (shake hands, bow, embrace, other)?

Lebanon is influenced from different culture... since the country is situated between East and Europe... I mean Orient... Some will say simply "Hi", "Hey" or "Kifak"(How are you in Arabic) or "Marhaba" (It means Hello in Arabic) or Bonjour in French is common. By shaking hands or even kissing.

3. As a visitor to the country, would you exchange gifts at the first meeting? What gifts are considered appropriate? If flowers, what kind? (Some have special meanings.)

No it is not common to offer in first meeting... And also flowers as gift is sadly not so spread in Lebanon...
Maybe someone living in town will offer a box of Arabic sweet or a chocolate and for mountains living who has farms, they can offer something related to the farms... eggs.. Milk.. Honey... etc...

4. How are children educated? At what age do they begin school? Do boys and girls generally go to separate schools, or are they separated by sex in the same school? Do they usually wear uniforms?

Education in Lebanon is influenced from Europe... no division between school or rooms for boys and girls.... I think students begin at 5 years old the school....
Many laics schools exist in Lebanon... and also other schools administrated by religious are there.
For Christian’ school: the board of the administration of the school can be operated by religious nuns or priest... but also no any difference between boys and girls...
I think same is for Islamic school… of course not for Islamic Koranic school....

5. What is the literacy rate for the country? The interviewee may not know the answer to this question, but you can find this information by looking at CountryWatch.com database available at Franklin University’s library Web site.

I think it is about 90 percent (see by the way Wikipedia or this https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2103.html)

6. How is garbage collection dealt with?

I guess we do not have any serious collection of garbage in Lebanon for recycling

7. What is the normal dress for men and women?

Today it is like USA... Europe... a normal Jens and t-shirts...
Of course in the past it was a traditional Lebanese costume....

8. What foods, if any, are generally not eaten or possibly considered taboo?

There is no taboo or not eaten food in Lebanon. Considering religion believe of course Pork meat is not accept by Muslims.

9. Are there gestures or movements that would not be acceptable in polite society?

No there is not that... Lebanese are like Italian they love gestures... hehehe

10. Is it acceptable to bargain for goods at department stores or at markets?

For big stores and big markets no you cannot bargain... in some small shop like for vegetables or even clothes yes it is possible.

11. How do people spend their leisure time? What kinds of leisure activities do they participate in?

Lebanese are well known in the entire world to be everywhere in all corner of the world… so they travel a lot.
For other sports: clubs are ok... or swimming... etc... Some make ski in winter... Hike… Of course we have very big movie theatres with most new movies released at the same time as in US.

12. What are normal work hours? Are most stores open on weekends? What days might they be closed?

The normal works for hours are from after 8 Am and till approximately 2 PM, 3 PM or even 5 PM....
In the past all stores close on Sunday... Today many open even Sunday....

13. What are the important holidays? Are there special observances of these holidays?

There is the national Lebanese Holidays... and the Christian holidays and the Muslims holidays. No time to list all.

14. Where and how do people get married? What is the average marriage age? Is it acceptable not to get married? What is the attitude toward divorce?

Inside Lebanon marriage is done in Church or in front of Muslim Sheikh. No civil marriage is accepted inside Lebanon.
The average age I think is 25 till 35 years. Yes it is acceptable not to get married and same for divorce (I can't mention here a lot about Divorce.. since I don’t have time.. but if for Muslims divorce is acceptable.. for Christians (married in a church) divorce does not exist.. but a separation.. and that is why some couple separated, goes to get married again in other countries to make a civil marriage....)

15. What is the national language of the country? Are other languages spoken?

National language is Arabic... Lebanese speaks a lot other languages... many speaks French and English fluently...

16. What is the principal religion(s) of the country? What are the basic beliefs or doctrines of these religions?

It is Christian and Islam... for Christian’s mains rites are Maronites, Orthodox and Armenian... for Muslim there is Shiite and Sunnite and finally there Druze and other...
For that I request if you can make a search through internet to see what doctrines behind the 17 confessions in Lebanon... Sorry no time to write about each one.

17. Who are (or were) the major artists and writers?

Ouff... Long list... you can see the major and important artists…check this page: http://www.onefineart.com/en/pastartists/

18. What kind of music is popular at this time? Who is the major pop star or movie star at the present time?

Ouuff... no it is too much... hehehehe.... there is the old traditional Lebanese music with Oud (Lute) with artist like: Wadih El Safi, Zaki Nasif, Sabah, Melhem Baraket, Fayrouz and Rahbani brothers...
Here other artists who integrated western modern style to the Arabic songs: Majida El Roumi, Elissa, Nancy Ajram, Haifa Wehbe, Ragheb Alama, Wael Kfoury, Carole Samaha, Marwan Khoury, Amal Hijazi and Miryam Fares, Najwa Karam, Gassan Rahbani

19. Do many people in Lebanon have Internet Access?

Yes internet access is spread but I guess not like in some other more modern countries like Dubai and Qatar…

20. Do many people in Lebanon have Cell Phones?

Cell phone is very spread in Lebanon... it is beginning to be the companion of young and old...an addiction. But you have to know the cell phone is very expensive for its invoices of calls... and probably Lebanon is the most expensive country for cell phones in the entire world.

Thank you very much for replying to the questions, sorry there were so many Smile

Your answers were excellent and helped me to further understand your culture.

Thank you again for your wonderful sites and for the time you have spent helping me understand your homeland!

Mhason@gmail.com

_________________
Mhason

Me too being an American always have great notion about this beautiful country of Lebanon. The country is full of natural heritage but certainly the war has prohibited its growth as a perfect tourist destination. Then also we believe the country will rise and got enough potentiality to get rid of this hectic word called - WAR!

_________________
http://www.elitetravelportal.com/

Lebanon culture is shown very clearly in their daily life. So I hope you soon get used to the life in here. Good kuck!

Last edited by helen82 on Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:52 am; edited 1 time in total

Thanks Helen