It is often said that the best way to learn foreign nation is to read news articles and magazines. Even though the jury is still out I strongly disagree with the statement on the grounds that reading newspapers and magazines is not the best way for us to learn foreign country. The rationale behind this is that learning a foreign language is also a good method to learn a foreign country. Moreover, it is also beneficial for us to learn a foreign country by being a foreign nation.
To begin with, people can learn foreign country by learning a foreign language. One of the best ways to learn a foreign culture is to make foreign friends. People can make friends with great ease by learning a foreign language. For example, according to a research released by Harvard University, more than 80 percent of international students in the University prefer to meet Americans in terms of knowing the culture of the USA. The underlying cause of this is identified to be the fact that by making American friends, international students may have chances to have hands-on experience such as eating American traditional foods, celebrating American traditional holidays.
Additionally, being in a foreign nation is also a vital way to learn foreign country. It is widely known that having experience about something is much more reliable and crucial than watching newspapers and magazines. Thus, by being a foreign country, one can know the way of living in the foreign country. Take the case of me for illustration. Before I went to China, I had a prejudice that Chinese were dirty and very rude to foreign people. I had a chance to live in China about a year as an exchange student. When I was there, I could learn not only knowledge but also valuable lessens about China such as their way of being responsible for little things and how to respect differences between people. These things were not the same as something I could learn from the newspaper. Finally, I could break my prejudice and learned a lot of things about China. Had it not been for going to China, I would not have a chance to change my mind of China.
In conclusion, I wholeheartedly believe that it is not the best way for us to learn a foreign country by reading newspaper and magazines. |