Comparing American and Philippine Culture

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The Spanish- American War ended on December 10, 1898 with the Peace Treaty of Paris being signed which granted the United States Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines (Schaefer 33). Due to this, the Philippines culture shares many commonalities with American Culture. The American colonization of the Philippines embedded customs and traditions of the west into the culture of the Philippines. English was beginning to be more widely spoken, street signs were Americanized, telephone poles were set up, and train stations were established (Schaefer 34). The Filipinos were starting to assimilate the American way of life into their own. Some Filipino customs and traditions, however, have not been changed. For example, Tagalog is still as widely spoken as English is (Schaefer 34). Both countries' customs and traditions have been influenced by many different countries' cultures (World Book 10-12). Going along with this idea, the religions in the two countries are very diverse (Foster 158). In the Philippines, about ninety percent of the population is Christian and eight out of ten are Catholics. This has been due to the five hundred years of Spanish rule and influence (Schaefer 14). Prior to this, Islam started to spread in the southern islands of the Philippines due to its proximity to Malaysia which was primarily Muslim (Schaefer 24). It is believed that Filipinos often say that they inherited their religion from the Spanish and democracy and the educational system from the Americans (Schaefer 206).
The Philippines is considered a third world country and the United States is a more industrialized and modern country. The Philippines is considered this because of the immense poverty there. It has a large population with few resources. The...

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The fifty- year American colonization has influenced the Philippine culture greatly. The Philippines has adopted many American customs and traditions and blended them with their own. The American culture has also been influenced by many other countries as a result of the rapid immigration into the United States. Therefore, a country's customs and traditions are formed through the blending of the different influential cultures.

Bibliography:
Devine, Elizabeth, and Braganti, Nancy L. The Travelers’ Guide to Asian Customs and Manners. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998. Dolan, Ronald E., ed. Philippines: a country study. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993. Foster, Dean. The Global Etiquette Guide to Asia. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000

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