How visiting other countries has affected your understanding of other countries and your own country?

Question

I just wonder how knowing a foreign language and visiting other countries have affeced your understanding of other countries and your own country?
What would you say to someone, who does not speak a foreign language and has never visited a foreign country and claims to know that his country is the best in the world?

Answer 1

I think this changes how you look at your own country too.
Maybe things are better elsewhere (cleaner, more law-abiding).
Perhaps they have a far worse standard of living but better morals.

I've noticed manners can be different. In a hotel I might say "may I have my key, please?" A foreigner could say "My key!" They are not being rude, things are just different for them.

Its very nice to visit well-known places abroad and have an understanding of them, e,g, the layout of the sights Rome, or walking round Copenhagen or Prague. Seeing things in the flesh gives a much better understanding. That can include disappointments too. I like to take a lot of photos and go through them later looking at the finer details - signs, derelict areas, corners of famous places that are not in the tourist brochures.

I'm sure I would enjoy these trips more if I understood more of the language too. I'm willing to try, but usually have so little time.
Very often I'm seeing spellings in signs that "click" in my mind. Like the Danish for hairdresser is "Friso/r", and hair can be "frizzy". So theres a link, we have borrowed something from another culture. City centres are often "Centrum"s. Sometimes you will see a roadmarking or traffic practice that is strange but sensible, and think "when we we get that at home?"

Its very nice to be guided round by a local. I was delighted to be guided round Prague by a retired government economist. He came up with gems like "this was oneof the secret police headquarters, the department of pyschology at the university". (I've no idea if it was true.) In Barcelona the guide said that the place was very popular with sailors (being a port) and sailors loved their bingo, so there were 20,000 bingo callers in town. (i.e. prostitutes.)

Something I dread is seeing the export of one country's worst or commonest elements into another. Such as english food in a spanish resort.

Seeing strange places in the flesh for the first time is a little bit of a shock, but usually pleasant. I feel that the information gained first hand sticks in the mind much better than anything learned from books or the net. I love being able to discuss the key items of interest of say 30 foreigh cities with people in the pub bus stop wherever. Not to boast but to have a shared experience.
Its very handy for doing pub quizzes too. Sometimes I wish I could go on a "Grand Tour".

I suspect the diversity is not going to be around for much longer,
just like most high streets have the same shops.

In the place and time I grew up, travelling abroad was not common. Since then cheap flights have made it very accessible.
I would certainly say that travel broadens the mind.

It may be that an individual thinks their specific community or area is simply wonderful, but they might enjoy it even more if they upped and left for a while. I'm thinking of the Amish for example. As I understand it they go out for a "gap year".

I would say to anyone who has not spent time in another country, please do so as soon as possible, while there are "other countries" left to see.

Answer 2

Visiting other countries and experiencing other cultures is fantastic.But for me, I can`t wait to get home.It is when you are not here that you realise how lucky you are to be(in my case) English. We may have a rotten government, but at least we can say that, and write what we want to (within reason)on this site. I remember being told by an Iranian, in the time of the Shah, that if you accidentally stuck a stamp up-side down on an envelope, you would be arrested. It was considered an insult to the Shah.

Answer 3

"What would you say to someone ....... never visited a foreign country .....thinks his country is the best in the world" ? I would say .... "Oh please! Not another know- it -all Yank, been nowhere, done nothing, has all the answers, proud of being unworldly! If you are English, shame on you, move to America immediately!

Answer 4

Yes and No Yes I live a gay nehiborhood of a major US city. No I did not leave my country or orgin.

Answer 5

Which is that country you are referring as the "best"?