It is a complex situation that, unlike our parents and grandparents, we have to face. Living in a globalised world where travelling is accessible to anyone, affordable to virtually any pocket and study abroad programs are so popular, people are more and more used to have cross cultural relationships of any type.
I guess, dear reader, that you have also attended one of those language courses in another country (let's say England, for instance) where people from all over the world gather together to improve their English skills. It can be indeed the most enriching and the funniest experience of your entire life. It is like personalizing one of those jokes: 'A Spanish, a French and an Italian enter a British pub... ' and you can easily guess that one of those cultural misundarstandings will happen next.
Among international groups slip-ups are expected on a regular basis, but cultural differences must be accepted. Nobody gets hurt or rather everyone becomes more understanding when in an strange land for everyone (let's say London, for instance) Americans use their hands to eat chicken, the Spanish speak loud on the bus, the Indians cook funny scented meals, the Japanese sniffle in public instead of blowing their noses… In such a melting pot where international people live together facing the same cultural shock but from their own perspective, cross cultural differences are better understood as a matter of social justice.
The major problem arises as soon as a narrow- minded native joins the international- cultural exchange, unaware and even intolerant towards everything differing from his own language and beliefs. Needless to say, I have many native American and British good friends. We only communicate in English and they are understanding if I make a cultural or grammar mistake, since it's me making a big effort for the sake of our friendship. But this has not always been the case for everyone.
I wish, dear dominant native figure laying on your comfortable sofa at home, that you would experience how it feels to live in a foreign country, how it sounds to have feelings but never be able to find the right words to express them, how it feels to wake up every morning looking at an unfamiliar sky, how it sounds to be asked for legal identification wherever you go, how it feels to be in real need of friends because many people speak but not so many are eager to listen, how it sounds to notice you cannot follow the jokes and people have no time to explain them to you so there is no laughter in your life anymore…
I wish you put on the shoes of the immigrant in your country, walk a mile, or a thousand, and then, kindly, open your door widely.
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