Cultural Awareness

Cultural Awareness

In this blog post, I would like to describe the cultural awareness theory. I will write an article about cultural differences by adding my own interpretation to the information I research on the internet.

CultureHall (1959) defi nes culture as the way of life of a people: the sum of their learned behaviour patterns, attitudes and materials things. Culture is often subconscious; an invisible control mechanism operating in our thoughts (Hall, 1983). In his view, we become aware of it by exposure to a different culture.

In fact, when I came to Finland and saw the Finnish culture closely, I also became aware of it.

 Members of a certain society internalise the cultural components of that society and act within the limits as set out by what is ‘culturally acceptable’

Hofstede’s (1980,  1991) theory aims to explain cultural differences through certain dimensions, such as power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity vs. femininity. Of these, we use the individualism vs. collectivism dimension. This dimension is defi ned by Hofstede (2008) as “the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side, we fi nd societies in which the ties between individuals are loose … On the collectivist side, we fi nd societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in groups, often extended families…”

 The experience I got with living in Finland for some time gave me the opportunity to compare those theories with my own impression

 

I had the opportunity to meet other exchange students by attending events and courses. Speaking with my friends from different countries, I got to know their culture a little. I learned which countries they came from. I think seeing different cultures, meeting new people and talking to them add a lot to us. Because people's differences are their wealth. Attending these events enriched my feelings and thoughts. It gave me different experiences.

Communicating with students from other cultures in the Finland has expanded my understanding of intercultural communication.

       It increased my self-confidence. It provided the opportunity to establish a diologist in the community, to exchange ideas about my profession and different subjects. I also exchanged ideas about the traditions of various countries, education systems and health sectors. I introduced my own country and culture to other people.

The identity consisting of cultural values that a society or different communities within that society defines is called "cultural identity". 

These events allowed me to know my cultural identity better. I was able to observe the differences between Turkish culture and Finnish culture better. And I understood that everyone has their own cultural identity. In fact, every person reflects the culture of his own country. But meeting people from different cultures broadens our cultural identity. It opens our horizons.

I think Erasmus Exchange Program is definitely beneficial. It's fun to meet friends from different countries. Both social interaction and learning from them contribute to our personal development.

As we speak, we also learn their culture. And I realize that learning different cultures is a privilege.