10 tips to connect and understand other cultures
Right now I am in Antalya at an International Symposium for Travel Writers, great set of people, great contacs for the future, and during a lecture a few days ago I was asked to talk about connecting cultures. So I wrote these ten tips as a base for my lecture. As below: (I thought maybe, in this stress to get things together for another lecture, I´d like to share it with you readers.)
- You need to travel, visit other countries, smell them, feel them.
- But don´t travel with your own country men, find ways to travel to meet local people on their terms, motorized vehicles do not help.
- Remember you are a guest, if you don´t like what you see, go home.
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My old friend from Cyprus, Kemal Darbaz, turned up and made life very enjoyable in Antalya! He´s got the best olive oil on earth! When you don´t understand, ask and try to see things from their perspective.
- Listen more than talk. But be curios.
- Humour and don´t take yourself to seriously.
- Don´t judge, have an open mind, what you see might not be the truth.
- Communication, Try to learn the language, if not try to communicate.
- Inform your self. Read and research a lot, but keep an open mind, read authors from that country. Remember objectivness doesn´t exist.
- Write, document and talk about your experiences, we need to inform others. Ignorance is dangerous.
Turkish Biggest Daily English Newspaper, Todays Zamam, published this article yesterday.
