Cultural Differences in Chile vs the USA | What You Need to Know Before Moving to Chile 

You did it right, maybe you missed the earthquake culture. We're so use to it and we don't panic like some other countries including US. Other thing, it's funny because I feel like me and my family are the only one who have dinner just like in your country, we don't have "once" frecuently.

My parents brought me and my three other siblings to the United States of America near the end of 1998 from Chile. I was at the age of 5 years old when my dad made the most difficult decision to move us permanently to the US. First to Florida, Arizona and now Oklahoma. We left everything behind, like our house, my toys and my happy life but the most horrendous part in our life, was leaving our family behind and the fact not knowing when we would meet again. Me, only being 5 years old at that time, I had no clue as to why we were leaving Chile. Then I was told because my dad accepted a better job in aviation in Florida but I later found out that Latam or lan Chile airlines offer him a better with a better pay and benefits, for which he rejected it. When I was in high school I found out the truth as to why because I was curious and confused. First of all, I was born with a rare form of dwarfism called McKusick type Metaphyseal Chondrodysplasia or CHH (cartilage- hair Hypoplasia), it affects my bones, joints, cartilage and gastrointestinal problems; and Hirschsprungs disease. We moved to the United States for better healthcare, health insurance, treatments and its cost, surgeries, a sense of independence and for a better education for me. In Chile I was not allowed to attend school and it didn't matter how many times they beg or fought. It was all because they didn't want their students be distracted by my appearance. I love Chile but there is a lot of things they need to fix all together. Although, they improved so much on education since the 90's with offering tuition or scholarship but for others is too expensive still. At least now they accept those with disabilities but from what I have seen in Chile since the last time I visited, they can't get jobs other than telling people where the bus is going to. The main thing it needs a ton of improvement on, is its health-care and its cost. They have a ridiculous waiting list in order to get surgery or to be seen by a specialist or if you have cancer. What's cool is that technology grew so guick in less time. Tourism grew high. Now English is being taught as a second language. I don't like that they prefer to hire young adults than older people even if they are more experienced. On top of that, there is a lot of Classism. My own mother was verbally, mentally and emotionally abused working as nanny for rich families and because of that trauma, she didn't want to have anymore kids. She was forced to drop out of school at 8th grade to help her mom (my grandma) financially who was raising them by herself. My mom's dad was in and out of the picture, he beat my grandmother and she finally kicked him out when my mom was 6 years old because he was an alcoholic. Divorce used to be illegal in Chile until before 2009. I never met him because he died in 1995 when I was 2 years old. My grandma had 11 kids. So it was hard to raise them by herself.

Hi! Thank you for being open and sharing your story! I love Chile, but I am also very aware that I was born in a privileged country, so I never fully experienced the issues and hardships Chileans faced. Fellow teachers, students, and friends all spoke to and expressed the same problems you mentioned. I hope that Chile and many countries that have similar issues all progress to help their people truly. Thank you for sharing your story with me and everyone who reads it! All the best.

Too Much Information!

@@Danielito9320 Muchas de las cosas que dices no son del todo ciertas ,la salud pública en Chile es mediocre pero porque los manejan los sindicatos y gremios de la salud , pero el país tiene na esperanza de vida superior de 80 años incluso superior a Estados Unidos , En Estados Unidos te pueden morir si no tienes seguro medico . Incluso ahora con la pandemia de coronavirus tuvo un buen manejo de la pandemia y tiene niveles de vacunación superiores a Países desarrollados .

You have no clue I've seen in Ovalle chile poison put thur out the neighborhood at night , in morning 15 / 20 dead dogs or still twitching before death

Dale saludos a tu amigos del partido comunista

@@t37able45 quien chota sos

It definitely is hard around the holidays. Sending you a virtual hug. I grew up in the U.S and have been here on and off in my 20's and Chile has been the only place I have been to that has felt like home. The US is definitely not Chile.

Yes! So true. I didn't realize it or feel it until I returned to the states in 2020 during the pandemic where people refused to wear masks.

In Chile community is so important. I long for that in the US.

IMMA SEE MY FAM IN CHILE SOON

​. THE Mask IS USELESS. It can make you sicker breathing in your accumulated bacteria...etc!!!😢

Dont fool yourself man, while yes, most jobs are on Santiago. Places like Rancagua, Talca, Valaparaiso etc are nothing to scoff at, and most have good scenery

Omg, I didn't know that was a thing, lol. That is a great tip to keep in mind. The Chilean slang definitely adds another layer to it.

Probably kissed some French in the mouth aahaha

Jajaja

I think this wasn’t the case in my experience. In Santiago which is a city vs a village they were strays but what was lovely that many people in the community or organizations try to take care of them the best they can by giving them food or building some sort of shelter.

what happens here is that this "village dog" thing happens inside the small comunities and "poblaciones" whitin big cities and small ones, the true strays are mostly in the city hubs where less people live like the center.

I love them too! I think that’s why I felt compelled to make one from my perspective. Cheers from NY 🙂

Hope you enjoy your time 🇨🇱🫶🏼

Thank you for watching!

Love reading comments like this! Thank you 😊 are you going to Chile for a long or short period?

Glad you found it informative!

Thank you! The concept of time is different when living abroad from the US. If you have any tips feel free to share, and I will pin the comment. :)

​@@AshelyLiliana yes this is true Ashely... The kissing part when greeting people is something I think is very nice and that American's should adapt. it. .I still think open PDA is kind of funny... Yes everyone has Fences around their houses and is scared to get robbed.. and maybe for good reason. Chile is notorious (worldwide) for their robbers..but still feel life outside of Santiago is very safe when compared to all other S.American countries and many U.S Cities. My In-laws have many bad stories but I have never had any issues since i started traveling here in 2004... The stray dogs are a problem for sure and got bitten on the leg and had to go for a rabies shot.. I still love most of the street dogs and most seem well fed and are calm around people and other pets. with the occasional aggressive dog. ( In Santiago it may be worse though ) I would add that if you are a student or even in your mid to late 20's and single and want to experience life then Chile can be a great place..so many magical places to see.. however if you are over 30 and maybe married with kids and looking for structure/ security then maybe Chile isn't the place for you..Almost every American or European we know has left after a couple of years. Americans can NOT get a regular bank account unless they are making Chilean pesos (even if making a lot of money in U.S Dollars ) which means you have to wait in long lines to pay all your bills. If you have kids then need to know that the school system is not very good ( even private schools ) I don't know much about College/ University here. Take Care

Thanks for your essential insight. Would love to hear about your experience in NYC!

Do you know anything about vina Del Mar? Thank you

Thank you :)

Thank you

Antes servia para que los cabros pudieran besar a la chica que les gustaba. Dios sabe que lo hice muchas veces incluso corriendo la boca y dando piquitos jejej. Ahora no se como sera, quizas metan a todos presos por saludar a una mujer de beso con el feminazsimo de ahora XD

Jajaja si seria una fiesta de niños!

@@AshelyLiliana I always thought that partying so late is because people feel here it is a grown up thing. But I don't see the point really. It's a childish thinking tbh lol. Also unproductive if you gotta work or just wanna 'exist' the next day.

Thank you ☺️

Hello! Thank you for being open to a foreigners opinion. All my videos about Chile are like a piece of my heart. I love Chile! Thank you for sharing about the fences :)

Ahhh didn’t know that! Thanks for sharing!

Ohh I'm from here and I didn't know, so that's why :o

La mea chaliwawa

Sounds nice! I love the dark and no light at night.

​@@rrai-traducción: es genial 😂

Hi Janice! Thank you for your words. I am glad the videos helped. I found the places I lived on FB groups and word of mouth. A general tip I would say is to make sure you research the neighborhood you want, and make sure you are comfortable with it.

@@AshelyLiliana Thank you!! ☺️

My favorite 🫶🏼

wtf u talking about

@@SoyoyoS Don't worry. You don´t need to know.

Hi! It means public display of affection.

Ask your mommy and daddy

@@AshelyLilianasame I could understand what you were saying or meant. It would have been easier to say people demonstrate affection publicly more

I can relate to that. My parents and grandparents moved to the U.S from Colombia and Ecuador for a better life as well.

Gracias!

Hi Kyle, I do offer a mentoring/pick-my-brain session . You can see the details here: ashely-liliana.ck.page/products/mentoring-service

Same here, I’m Chilean

As much as there are differences I personally love Chile for all that it is. I hope you find that place for you in Chile or elsewhere. Best of luck. 🙂

@@AshelyLiliana thank you. So you do love Chile! What exactly do you love in here? Did you made a video about it ? I’d love to see

why don't you love chile? Have they done something to you that your stay here is bad?

@@rudebox7606 people rap and steal. Everyday in news. Few rich people and the rest. Chilean people feel and talk and act about it, the social status & differences between each other. That’s locally and more goes into that. Regionally, they have issues with Argentinian and Venezuelan people too. I’m living here for almost 5 years, my experience was not that good with people here. I’d rather in my future to move back to Egypt or Dubai

@ Que está esperando para irse a vivir a otro país, inmigrantes que les dan de vivir en Chile y después de quejan .

Hey, yeah I got my phone stolen too, my roommate got his phone stolen and other people as well. But I’ve also gotten my phone stolen in NYC ( where I’m from) and picked pocketed in Paris. In my experience, it wasn’t anything drastic to my previous travels or where I grew up. I know that’s not always the case for everyone and that’s why I say that culture shock is affected by where you are from and how you grew up :)

¡Gracias por compartir! Las experiencias son únicas para cada individuo . Saludos :)

I lived in Santiago for three years and had no problems. I went to the big market, Persa Bio Bio, a lot and could feel people "brushing by" my butt in hopes of finding a wallet but that was obviously a place anyone would expect that and move their wallets.

While in USA school children do active shooter drills, in Chile we have just earthquake drills at schools. See? Taking just one thing that happens frequently in a country as a measure to define it can be both unfair and narrow-minded.

@@MariaMartinez-researcher that doesn't work on Americans

Hello, I’m not Chilean and I’m no longer living there but if you have any questions I still might be able to answer or point you in the right direction 🙂

@@AshelyLiliana I have question....about neuroscience ....neurorights against mind kontrol in Chile....Rafael Yuste......

No es "obligatorio" saludar con un beso en Chile, generalmente la mayoría saludamos de beso más que nada a nuestros amigos más cercanos, al resto basta con dirigirte a ellos con una sonrisa diciendo "hola buenas tardes, días o noche".Nadie hará un escándalo porque no saludes de beso, ustedes le están dando más importancia al tema de la que nosotros mismos le damos .

@@yosilpaz8594 porque es raro. llegar a un lugar y te den un beso como saludo. sorry pero para ti es normal y no lo ves raro ya que vives en chile. pero para una persona donde esas acostumbres no estan , es raro.

@@edux9124 ¿Leíste bien mi comentario? Te pregunto porque parece que no, vuelve a leerlo, allí te explicó que para nosotros los chilenos NO ES PROBLEMA SI NO QUIERES SALUDAR CON BESO, nadie se va a ofender si tu guardas distancia y dices un simple hola , o hello , y si la situación es más informal te dirijes con un "Buenos días, o tardes o noches " menos si eres un "gringo" Creo que te stresas de más. También hay muchos chilenos a los que le incomoda saludar o que lo saluden de beso un desconocido

@@edux9124 Pd: Incluso puedes dar un poco vuelta la cara y dar el "beso como al aire".Pero como dije no es obligatorio el saludo de beso, no a todos los chilenos saludan de beso a todo el mundo, y la mayoría que lo hace lo reserva a familia o amigos cercanos, para el resto basta con un gesto con la cabeza, una sonrisa y un hola , buenas tardes ¿Cómo estás? .A no ser que la situación sea muy formal allí puedes dar la mano y quizás hacer como que das un beso al costado de la cabeza aunque esto último es opcional.

@@yosilpaz8594 ahahahaha creo que tu no entiendes. me dices que no es obligacion, pero me explicas de diferentes maneras de hacerlo . mira, a nadie le importa mucho, solo es raro. no te preocupes, el mundo no esta pendiente de algo asi.

Thanks for the feedback!

. Back in time people used 11 to replace the word "aguardiente" (a very strong cheap alcoholic beverage), the word aguardiente has 11 letters and that's why they called it like that. With this they avoided being caught saying loudly they would be drinking during the day. With time it became normal to call 11 to the afternoon snack you have between lunch and dinner.

​@@Daniel.dan2217 That is the explanation I was looking for. Thank you 😊

About the food in Chile. In the main cities you can find any type of food. A vist to a supermarket will give access to indian, mexican, chinesse, italian, german, etc. Some cities have restaurants of many nacionalities and very good too. The Chilean cuisine is a carbon copy of the Spanish one. So I am surprised to read that you do not like it. I say that because I lived in Spain too. But Chileans have a range of local dishes that are really good, for example empanadas, completos, churrascos, cazuelas, pastel de choclo, and may seafood dishes too. And then the bread, it is just great. Marraquetas, ayuyas, dobladitas, amasado, tortillas de rescoldo, everyone of them is delicious. In patissery in Chile you will find everything, French, German, English, Spanish and Chilean. All of them excellent. But as it happens, the international cuisine in a country ussually follows distorsion asociated with the local tastes in ingridients and condiments. I once went to a Mexican restaurant in Berlin, the mexican food there was quite different to the original, but people there accepted it as the real deal and enjoy it. I commented this to a mexican friend, and he said: "They are copies, of copies, of copies of mexican food" Perhaps your chilean family was not good in the kitchen or you did not leave in a good neighbourhood.

@@Gerard-Red In all fairness, I have not been back to Chile since 2011, so I'm sure much has changed. To a certain extent, I think you misunderstood my comment as I said, "Don't get me wrong, I love Chilean food and my mother-in-law as a great cook". I was referring to the restaurants in Santiago. Yes, I know you can get almost any type of food in Chile, especially in the capital, but...at least back in 2011...there wasn't much of a variety. Hopefully it's changed and gotten better.

@@GoodLifeInSpain I'm chilean and live here, as I can tell things have changed a lot in the last like 6-7 years, uber eats and other food delivery services got very popular, making it easy for more diversity food restaurants to exist, since the physical place is not that important anymore, sushi went wild tho, I bet is like 25% what japanese sushi this being the raw fish/seafood and the nori, chinese and other asian countries are still lacking. I do share the fact that the variety would be mid at best without peruvian cuisine, also now you can find more colombian and venezuelan variety too, hope you get the variety you want if you come back, also, go to the south if you haven't (not likely tho lol) and get some asado al palo for meat or curanto and pulmay for the seafood, those are the best in my experience.

This reads like the instructions printed on those red wrappers of chopsticks at Chinese restaurants.

This is completely true, not just people with knowledge of history, the average Latin American doesn't like the average United States citizen. Regardless of your race, this is something they don't seem to understand, they think because they went to Cancun or Machu Picchu (paying in US dollars) everyone automatically likes them....

Can I ask why?

Te apuesto q no lo hiciste en Chile y te frustraste? Vivo en Canadá hace cinco años y ya planeo volver a mi tierra...Chile pese a todo, està bastante bien, he incluso adelanta en varios paìses desarrollados.

Jajaja yes "american football". That is definitely another difference.

People don’t try to be rude, just point out the differences. Also do Chilean people consider themselves “latinos”?

I would love to.live in Chile I'm sure you chileans are nice

@@andressanchez-ix6vv Of course we are, just like argentinians or brazilians. But don't expect us to wear sombreros while eating tacos

Most Americans don't even know that Chile exists.

Compadre Chileno, salu2 de México, Nadie quiere a los argentinos ni los peruanos, no les haga caso. De nosotros también se ríen (no entiendo por que, México esta al otro extremo del continente).

Lo que comparto es basado en mi experiencia trabajando en chile y interactuando con los chilenos en mi alrededor. No significa que es la norma solo lo que vive y aprendí en mi tiempo ahí :)

@@AshelyLiliana Entonces no catalogue cómo "costumbre" hasta que no corrobores que algo que vez es común a la mayoría de habitantes de un país.

@@yosilpaz8594 dale más color

@@javierasdsdsdas6908 NO el "color" se lo das tú respondiendo weas a una simple aclaración ¿Acaso te pasan multa por los comentarios que hagan los demás que te incomodan ? 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

@@yosilpaz8594 no, de hecho me acaba de dar risa como te ardiste por un simple comentarie y ahora le diste más color JDKAJD por un simple vídeo, hágase ver, saludos 🫡

se speak super fast in chile, maybe she got used to speak like us 😅

¡Hola! Viví en Chile un año y medio, todavía siento que es poco tiempo para hablar de otras cosas como mencionas. Esta es mi perspectiva comparando no solo el país en el que nací sino también la ciudad en la que crecí (Nueva York) con Santiago. Pero gracias por tu comentario y si recomiendas un video que hable mejor sobre las diferencias culturales, házmelo saber y le hago "pin" y lo pondré en la descripción. Saludos :)

Hi, I am from the U.S.A. Parents are from Colombia and Ecuador respectively!

Racist

There is no such thing as a typical “gringa”. The USA is a melting pot of ethnicities.

Opportunistic victim blaming, like the US? Major cities in chile are much safer than major cities in the US and the curruption level is the same, meaning low especially for South America.

Hey Jeff, I’m sorry that was/is your experience in Chile. I’m from NYC so I’m used to some wild drivers, lol. I think that’s thing about experience, it is so unique to an individual. Not saying my all my time in Chile was great (definitely some low moments) but overall I have nothing but fond memories living and working there.

Cross the street at the corners, did you see the stripes painted on the floor? They are called zebra steps. Cross there and you will notice that the cars stop and let the pedestrian pass. If you cross in the middle of the block without respecting the traffic rules (yes, pedestrians are also subject to obeying the traffic rules) you are not a victim you are just a fool I'm sorry for your loss ... trata de no volver y todos felices

I’m really sorry you had such an awful experience in Chile 😔

Jeff sorry to hear about your loss, am a chilean here in usa, i have to admit i cant stand the lack of awareness when people cross the streets in USA, i mean what if people dont stop? what if people are texting? and I think this applies to Chile even more as drivers dont follow rules as much as they do here in the states.

¿Con que tipo de gente te juntas en Chile? Yo soy chilena Y TE PUEDO DECIR QUE ESO NO SON "COSTUMBRES CHILENAS" SINO DE GENTE MALA CLASE "LUMPEN" "DELINCUENTES" Y DE ESOS HAY EN TODO EL MUNDO NO SÓLO AQUI, , NI YO NI MI FAMILIA NI AMIGOS TENEMOS ESAS "MALAS COSTUMBRES" QUE CUENTAS ,Y ME OFENDE QUE GENERALICES TÚ EXPERIENCIAS PUNTUAL, YO SIEMPRE DEVUELVO LO QUE PIDO PRESTADO Y REPARO LO QUE ROMPO. Que tú hayas tenido mala experiencia no te da derecho a vilipendiar a toda a una nación, somos 18 millones de personas y dudo que hayas conocidos ni a 100..Consejo : Cambia de amistades y de barrio,ya que tu problema no es Chile sino la gente que frecuentas..

Tienes alguna fuente para corroborar eso?

@@Srubio2000 Jajajajajaja en serio ? es cosa que te separes de la pantalla 5 minutos salgas a la calle y cuentes los kiltros que quedan

@@marcelbeck6865 Lo que estás diciendo no supone ninguna prueba comprobable, la población demográfica varia según la zona en dónde te encuentres por lo tanto "salir a la calle a contar perros" no da ningún resultado aparte de ser muy ilógico, en definitiva no tienes pruebas y por cómo te expresas puedo notar que eres bastante ignorante

@@marcelbeck6865 Y ojo que en ningún momento dije que lo que decías fuera falso, netamente me pareció interesante la afirmación que dijiste y quería saber si existía alguna prueba con más lógica.

You haven't lived unless you've been to a good dog asado.