Differences In Tradition And Culture Essay, Research Paper

Differences in Tradition and Culture

The word Tradition is a very vast one. Every country, city, and land has its own tradition and culture that is entirely different from each other. People, generally after they have picked up a certain tradition, find it very difficult to adapt to another tradition or culture. This reluctance to easily adapt a new tradition is the main reason as to why there are many differences among people, due to their tradition. Some people, refuse to accept another tradition because their views are different and they treat all basic activities differently, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” (Robert Levine, p. 84) In another country if a person feels out of place, it is because his traditional activities are completely different from those of the new country, therefore he moves around according to his own tradition.

The main traditional and cultural differences are Language, Non-Verbal signs and Symbols, Preconceptions and Stereotypes, Evaluation and High anxiety. Language poses a great problem to people from different cultural backgrounds as they do not clearly understand what is being said, they only listen to the words said interpret their meaning, instead of relating it to the context of what is being said. Nonverbal signs and symbols are also an important cause of traditional differences, because people only see and hear what they think is important and therefore they ignore the other person’s signs and actions even if it is of great importance. Preconceptions and Stereotypes are one of the major reasons as to why there is an intercultural and traditional gap. People stay away from other cultural people and they also behave differently mainly because of the stereotypes, “Stereotypes are overgeneralised beliefs that provide conceptual bases from which to ‘make sense’ out of what goes on around us” (Levine, p. 80). People easily evaluate others on the basis of their actions and statements rather than trying to understand the feelings that are being conveyed. People also feel high anxiety when they communicate to foreigners, because he is unaware of the foreigner’s background and tradition. Even time is given different levels of importance in every country. Not everyone treats time the same way, importance of time varies from place to place and from person to person.

All these traditional differences greatly effect all the various cultures and prevent them from mingling with each other and building a strong and healthy relationship. Therefore, people stick to their own group or people without trying to reach out to the others. They do not even try to build a bond between the different cultures and therefore they unaware about the activities of the others. I strongly feel that people must let themselves free and open up to other cultures and learn more about them to be able to relate and communicate to them in a better way, which will definitely reduce intercultural and traditional differences