It is considerably argued that traveling to other nations is not crucial for the learning process of the other culture. Instead, reading books, watching movies, or using the Internet seems to be a more sufficient way to approach a new region’s habits. To voice my own opinion, I completely disagree with this claim since it is not enough to satisfy the desire of cultural learners.
It is undeniable that books, films, and the Internet only reflect an insight or an aspect of other people’s customs, which can not adequately fulfill our cultural learning process. Obviously, books and newspapers can provide us with reliable information that meticulously describes the author’s experiences in a new country, allowing us to fill knowledge gaps about cultural diversity. In addition, this approach way seems to be more solid than using Internet articles which only overwhelm readers with such an enormous amount of information that is believed to be more confusing than useful for us to gain knowledge. However, the written content sometimes can be out-of-date one day, or even limited as it only includes personal opinions and experiences, leading us to misunderstand or incomplely receive information. Last but not least, watching movies seems to be the most popular method to approach a new region’s habitat, however, its entertainment can only gain our interest in the short team as the shortage of own experiences.
On the other hand, I strongly believe that exploring other regions’ customs through your own firsthand experiences seems to be the best approach strategy. Particularly, the eyewitness brings us an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the place we desire to learn about. By directly joining in their daily life, we can not only fill the knowledge gaps but also gain an understanding of the stories behind those customs. Thereby, we are more likely to love and appreciate the beauty of the cultural diversity.
In conclusion, although there are several ways for us to comprehend knowledge, I strongly believe that cultural learning through books, movies, and the Internet should go hand in hand with firsthand experience so that we can have a deeper insight of other countries’ cultures.