An American is someone who is either born in the United States, or is a permanent resident or a citizen and has developed an attachment to the USA through his/her length of stay in the country. Anthony Smith observed that, in the western model of national identity, nations are seen as cultural communities whose members are, if not homogeneous, united by common historical memories, myths, symbols and traditions. Even when new immigrant communities equipped with their own historic culture and traditions have been allowed into a host country, it has taken several generations before their descendants are absorbed into the circle of the ‘nation’ and its historic culture. Smith also identified land or attachment to land, its rivers, coasts, lakes, mountains and cities as important. These attachments become ‘sacred’ as people live in a place for generations, and this bond can create people's national identity. Kwame Appiah noted, however, that identity is not determined by a specific amount of time or number of generations, but how quickly one can adapt to the host country's way of life. That is, according to Appiah, Americans are people who speak the English language and know something about American sports such as baseball and basketball. Americans are also familiar with American consumer culture and brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Levi-Strauss, Ford, Nissan and GE. They have seen Hollywood movies and know the names of some actors, and ‘even a few who watch little or no television can probably tell the names of its “personalities”’.