After thinking about how many different places I've lived throughout my life, I realized something: I've experienced a lot of different cultures and people firsthand. I've lived in Canada, the US, the UK (being my place of birth and main residency), Germany, Italy, and Spain for at least 1 year in each country, and it's been a blast learning about new people, new places, and just changing it up in general. It adds an excitement to life, rather than staying in one place and not fully feeling how other cultures live in their respective places. Not only experiencing them while living amongst them, but I also eat a lot of foreign foods through festivals and small foreign restaurants all the time here in the UK, just because I'm adventurous when it comes to food. It's given me an insight on the savory (and not so savory) foods that other cultures have to offer.

Simply watching lots of documentaries can even be counted as branching out, or your main hobby can be to travel around the world. It doesn't matter. However, I think we can all agree that branching out to other cultures is important to fully understand how there are way more people out there, and they live much different lives than we do.

So, Vizzed, my question to you is: How do YOU branch into other cultures?

goodboy : I can't say for sure as I never traveled to other countries, but I believe a good start is to simply "observe how things are in that country". Ever since I started to understand English better (on the listening subject), I've been watching lots of English-related content. I can even say with absolute certainty that I've been laughing a lot more at English videos than videos in my own language (Portuguese), e.g. Family Feud. I wish I knew about Steve Harvey way before, I'm starting to love the show because of him, and even though USA has a lot of different accents (just like in Brazil), I'm starting to understand it all better, like unconsciously. And I feel great knowing that I'm being entertained in another language, that opens up endless possibilities. And, most importantly, I did all of this without even stepping outside home (let's just say my childhood was filled with English - videogames, videogames, videogames ).

The second thing that comes to my mind after "getting used to your country of desire's culture" is to "properly study it". I haven't had enough time for this but I plan on studying everything about Canada or Australia (unsure on which to choose), as I plan on - hopefully - giving a shot at living there for good. The "language wall" is already crumbling like crazy, I just need enough conversation and listening training (not due to the language per se, but due to me "zoning out" a bit whether I'm talking with someone, no matter the language), but, as we all fear in a moment of our lives, "what if we don't manage to branch ourselves fully"? As in, "will people someday stop thinking I'm just a foreign guy trying to integrate", even when you travel to a place that speaks the same language as you, although with different accents (say, Portugal in my case)? Or, well, maybe I don't really know about this since I never traveled abroad, so I'm not sure as to how people up there in the North Hemisphere live and act - being a Brazilian makes you pretty attached to the "warm greetings" and the general "friendly companions" cultural thing, while things up there in the US/UK/Canada are completely different, people are "colder", not in a bad way but I think you get what I mean...?

Ergo, pretty much what you said: study other countries, get to learn how people live and about their culture, in other words, plan yourself. That, however, can be only around 50~75% of the road, the rest is up to you actually going there and adapting yourself slowly. Probably the more friends you find there (and the more friendly and understanding they turn out to be), the quicker you'll adapt, but that will depend on how much of an introvert you are (I would be pretty unlucky in that subject ). That's how I see this whole thing but I might be wrong on some aspects.

There are a number of ways I learn about other languages. I'm open-minded and I like learning about what other people think about and do and belief. I believe in reading other literature, whether it's religious or historical, and understanding the mindset of other cultures. What cultures write down is usually the most important set of ideas and the best description of their culture available. And I can do it from the comfort of home. Listening and watching YouTube videos about other cultures is another way to listen and hear what they believe and think.

I also like eating other food. I have tried almost everything at least once out there and I won't shy away from food if it is generally accepted as a real source of energy by a culture. Dog? Done it. Cat? Not on purpose but yes. Duck fetus? Yep, the Filipinos eat those and I've done it twice while being laughed at by some locals who had never seen a white guy eat balut before. It tasted like chicken noodle soup but was crunchier.

I haven't attended enough religious services of Islam, Judaism, or other beliefs outside Christianity and that's something I plan on doing in the future. Listening and learning without judgment is the best way to expose myself to the idea of others.

There's never anything wrong with trying to understand the viewpoint of the other person. If only everyone could take that point of view, I think the world would be a better place.

Wherever I move or travel, I always try to pay attention to the locals' habits and customs. I get accustomed to "foreign" food pretty easily since I eat pretty much anything and I'm opened to new culinary experiences. And since I rarely eat at the same place twice (minus fast food outlets), I can discover all sorts of "foreign" food.


I married a Dominican, and his family gave me the opportunity to experience so many delicious foods (pernil, plantains in all forms and shapes). However, I still can't stand their music, mostly because they put the volume on maximum and I can't hear myself breathe.

I branch into other cultures usually by food or by jumping into their media. That's how I got into Japan was first through their media, then food. I also jumped into Italy, and learned how northern and southern foods are different. I wish I had the money to travel, as I'd love to go to Japan, especially to see a New Japan Pro Wrestling show, as they don't have many in the US, and they're only in California.

I always do it by getting into folklore and occasionally music. Japanese folklore has interested me and I want to know more and more about it, and that's how I got into japanese stuff. Other cultures have been, for instance, american culture (not modern day of course, really old stuff) and now I'm obsessed with the 1930s.