Language stays help combat prejudices

Stereotypes and prejudices are two phenomena that limit open-mindedness and intercultural learning. To overcome clichés about foreign countries! you need to have the chance to travel! such as during a language stay! in order to discover that in each country! there is a variety of cultures and behaviors. Clichés! stereotypes and other prejudices then quickly disappear! proving that it is essential to take cultural specificities into account rather than trying to oversimplify one’s perception of the world.

Definitions of stereotype and cultural prejudice

A stereotype (1) is defined as a belief that attributes a given malaysia email list behavior to a group belonging to a culture. Thus! the English all have a bowler hat and a moustache! the Italians all look like a Venetian gondolier and the Germans are dressed as Bavarians and drive Mercedes…

Stereotyping is a hindrance to learning foreign cultures! since it keyword research erases all nuance. It does not take into account that in each country there is an infinite variety of personalities! even languages ​​and local cultures. Did you know that the Spanish regions are called “autonomous communities” because they benefit from expanded powers (education! police! etc.) or that more than seven dialects are officially listed in Germany  ? Stereotyping does not take into account the reality behind each country.

Cultural prejudices are caused by the “positive or negative overestimation of a specific culture” (1) . They are built via the media! via rumors! hearsay… Thus! according to the media! the inhabitants of Rio are all “corrupt and poorly organized” because this is what emerges from the organization of the Olympic Games! even before their launch! In the same vein! the English are said to be poor cooks! the French are grumblers or the Germans are authoritarian! Prejudices tend to generalize to an entire group a fact that could have been observed at the level of a small minority of individuals.

The role of the language stay

Going abroad allows you to confront the country’s culture in cuba leads its Language stays  multiplicity! overcoming prejudices and stereotypes. The young person on a language stay will thus notice that his exchanges are different when he addresses a bobby in London! a surfing instructor in Bundoran (Ireland)! a baker in Brighton or members of his host family (parents or children). These interactional communication frameworks will help him not to limit his perception of the country to a globality but on the contrary to appreciate its particularities and the “subcultures” (2) that compose it.

Cultural immersion allows a “critical” approach to the country
To reinforce the idea that the global approach does not help an ideal learning method! linguist C. Kruger (1982) noted that learning about culture in a formal course pushed learners to have too “touristy” a view of the country! too stereotypical.

 

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