Describe a foreign culture that you are interested in

IELTS

In this article, IELTS Game will add number 110 IELTS cue card sample on the series of 2020 cue cards with band 9.0 model answers and part 3 follow up questions that will help you in your IELTS test preparation.

This cue card is related to “foreign culture and tradition description” topic and asking you to “Describe a foreign culture that you are interested in.“ and asking IELTS speaking part 3 follow up questions related to cue card on Indian culture.

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IELTS Cue Card 2020 Sample 110

Describe a foreign culture that you are interested in .

Here are some ideas about IELTS speaking about Indian culture or any other foreign culture or tradition.

• Nowadays, we belong to a small global village.

• National boundaries have almost disappeared.

• We are exposed to foreign culture more than any other time in history.

• I know of many foreign cultures such as the fast food culture and the call-centre job culture.

• But here I would like to talk about a foreign culture which I really like.

• This is the celebration of a special day which is Mother’s Day.

• My cousin came from US last year and she told me about this day.

• She told me that it falls on the second Sunday of May every year.

• She also told me that this day basically started in America but is now celebrated in many countries of the world.

• She also told me that this day is celebrated with a lot of happiness and enthusiasm in USA.

• I feel that this culture is interesting because it gives children an opportunity to thank their mothers for all the sacrifices she does in raising them.

• Normally we take our mother for granted and never think about what she does for us.

• Such days remind us the importance of mother and motherhood.

• I was surprised to see that in stationery shops here, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Grandparent’s Day cards are available.

• This shows that we Indians are also following the good points of foreign culture.

1. Do you think it’s important to know about other cultures?

I do think it’s extremely important to learn about other cultures.

Not only can you find out interesting things, but it makes it easier to interact with those people if you ever come in contact with them.

Also, it makes it a lot easier to do business with those cultures.

It’s important to be educated about the world and not just shut yourself into your own country.

2. How can we benefit from learning about other cultures?

Several ways that people can benefit from other cultures are in business, personal relationships, and just in self-improvement.

In business, it is necessary to know a little bit about whatever culture you plan to work with.

For instance, I think in Muslim cultures, shaking hands with your left hand is considered extremely rude.

If you didn’t know that, it could hurt your chances of doing business.

Also, it’s important just to improve yourself by learning as much as you can, and culture is a good subject.

3. What do you think is the best way to learn about another culture?

Obviously, the best way to learn about a culture is to go there and experience it.

If you can get a feel for the culture firsthand, it will be a lot easier to pick things up,

But I also believe that you can learn a ton about other cultures just by reading books about them.

Reading about people’s experiences in foreign lands is the next best thing to being there.

4. Do you think that learning foreign languages can help us understand foreign cultures?

I’m not sure that just learning the language is a good way to learn about a culture, but most places where you would learn a language would help you learn about the culture, so indirectly, yes.

The language alone isn’t great for understanding culture.

For instance, German is a really harsh language, but Germans aren’t harsh people.

You really need to study more than the language if you want to get to know a culture.

5. Do you think it’s better to go overseas to study a foreign language or to study it in your home country?

I think it is better to study a language in its native country.

When you do that, you are engulfed in the language and forced to encounter it outside of the classroom.

Otherwise, your only exposure to the language is when you’re studying or in the classroom.

I know firsthand that when learning a foreign language in your home country, it is easy to lose what you have learned.

Globalization

6. What is your understanding of the term “globalization”?

Globalization, in my mind, is the idea that the world is becoming smaller, so societies can interact and exchange culture more easily and more efficiently.

Unfortunately, because some countries are richer and have more influence than others, certain cultures get spread around more than others.

On the whole, however, globalization is a good thing because it is not only culture that gets spread, but things like information and medicine that can help people.

7. Do you think globalization is a good thing?

Yes, globalization has its problems, but for the most part, it is good for most people involved.

Some people have different opinions because they are really concerned with the loss of culture, but for me, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

People have access to more information, so diseases can be better treated, food can be made more efficiently, and goods that make people’s lives easier are now available.

8. Do you think it’s easier to learn about other cultures today than it was before?

Yes, of course it is. All you have to do is to look at art from long ago about foreign cultures and you can see the lack of knowledge people had.

Today, with the Internet and the number of books available, it is almost impossible to be ignorant.

It is so easy to learn about anything you want.

[Band 9] Describe an interesting thing you have learned from a foreign culture IELTS Cue-Card

Here are the band 9 sample answers to Describe an interesting thing you have learned from a foreign culture IELTS Speaking Cue Card:

Sample Answer 1

Introducing an interesting thing

What it is?

How did you learn it?

Why did you learn it?

Explain how you think learning about foreign culture will help others?

Concluding the Cue Card

Sample Answer 2

Learning about a foreign culture allows you to appreciate a new place and its people. The celebration of Mother’s Day is an unusual thing I discovered from another culture. Growing up in my nation, there was no official day to recognise mothers’ contributions to the world.

When I was in college, one of my classmates who was studying in London returned home for the summer. We had finally met after a long time, and she told me all about her college and how different the society was there.

One of the things she mentioned was that there was a Mother’s Day event there. Every year on the second Sunday in May, it is observed to honour moms. It is an opportunity for children to express their love and express gratitude to their mothers for everything they have done.

She lives in England with her aunt, and she informed me that on Mother’s Day, her cousins made cards for their mother, served her breakfast in bed, and assisted her with chores all day. Her cousin’s school likewise observed Mother’s Day. That day, they all went out to dinner, and her uncle bought her aunt a beautiful ring.

I wanted to do something special for my mother, so I told my sister about this well-known Western custom. I am really close to my mum and have seen her do so much for my sister and me on a regular basis. She worked full-time, assisted us with our homework, prepared our favourite foods, planned our birthday parties, and cared for us when we were ill.

So spending one day to her felt pretty nice to me, and I started celebrating Mother’s Day every year after that. In the end, I’d merely say that Mother’s Day is an interesting custom I picked up from a different culture.

Follow-ups

The probable Describe an interesting thing you have learned from a foreign culture follow up questions that may be asked by the examiner in Speaking Part-3 of the test will be updated soon.

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Describe a Foreign Culture that you Like – IELTS Cue Card

Updated On Jul 16, 2022

With the advent of globalization and the development of mass media, people in every country and every age has exposure to the culture and traditions of other countries. So, in this cue card, you have to share about one of the foreign cultures that you admire or like the most and state the reasons as well. Three sample answers are provided for you to help you practice.

Describe a foreign culture that you like.

Sample Answer 1

It is mesmerising to realise that the globe has diverse cultures and traditions, some known and some kept private to their communities. Out of all, I am pretty drawn toward the traditional Lion Dance of China.

IELTS Speaking Actual Tests with Answers (July – October 2022) | eBook

Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day

Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day

Back in my school days, I was assigned a project to research and write about the most famous traditions worldwide. During my thorough research, I stumbled upon this traditional dance of China. Herein, performers impersonate the movements of a lion while wearing an explicit costume. Apparently, this lion dance intends to bring good fortune and luck. Usually, it is performed during the Chinese New Year and other local traditional, religious and cultural festivals. Apart from that, it can also be performed on imperative occasions, like a business opening, wedding ceremony, etc.

One of the significant differences between this Chinese culture and the one India follows is that of the procedure to embark on a new journey, be it getting married or opening a business. From where I come – the land of diversity – we either break coconuts or perform pooja to mark the commencement of something prosperous.

The entire organization of this dance is nothing but fascinating. Their moves are outstanding, and the performers manage to strike a balance, despite wearing such flamboyant costumes.

Vocabulary

Sample Answer 2

Every country has its own culture to follow. The dictionary meaning of the word “Culture” is that it is the ‘way of life of people’, meaning how they live. It is passed on from one generation of people to another and sometimes from one country to the other, remaining unchanged with passing time. The celebration of Christmas and Thanksgiving in foreign countries grabbed my special attention.

I learned about these celebrations mostly from storybooks, movies, and web series. In addition, the American sitcoms widely or descriptively show how beautifully they celebrate the two occasions.

Christmas is all the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and so, they celebrate it royally. They bake cakes, decorate the Christmas trees, visit the church, and even give gifts to one another. Although our country celebrates it, not in such a grand manner. However, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving like they do and instead honour the same spirit in other ways.

Both events mean celebrating a single day from your busy schedule with your loved ones. Thanksgiving is celebrated in American countries as a mark of gratitude for the harvest and other blessings of the past year. It is mainly a way of showing how thankful they are for the food they get and for every good thing happening in their life. I think it’s a beautiful culture to observe Christmas on a snowy day. It is a perfect way to sip hot chocolate with your family and ponder about the day.

Sample Answer 3

Apart from the culture of my country, India, I have been attracted by the Japanese country. The people of Japan always exhibit modesty and simplicity in their behaviour, although it is one of the most technologically advanced nations with a fast-developing economy. Although many people cannot differentiate between Chinese and Japanese culture, I feel Japanese culture is more society centred, while Chinese people are more family-oriented.

Japan is considered one of the most exotic Asian countries due to its colourful traditions, costumes and food. Being a bookworm as well as a hodophile, I was attracted by the beauty of the cherry blossoms during spring in Japan and the festival related to it. The celebration is known as Sakura, while the art of celebrating is called Hanami, which represents the beginning of spring. The origin of Hanami is said to date back to more than 1,000 years when aristocrats enjoyed looking at beautiful cherry blossoms and wrote poems inspired by them. But, now, people in Japan drink and eat, making the tradition of flower-viewing more like a picnic under the trees. Thousands of people flock to parks and they enjoy home-cooked meals, prepare barbecued foods, drink sake to mark the occasion. In addition, there are other festivals like Obon or Bon Festival, different types of Matsuri festivals, etc., in which the Japanese pay reverence to their ancestors or pray to the gods to protect them and purify them.

Indian and Japanese cultures are different in quite a few ways. Firstly, the Japanese celebrate a single culture, while Indian culture amalgamates various cultures within one nation. Secondly, Japanese culture is influenced by Chinese culture and so they are quite similar. But, apart from its own variegated culture, India has accepted foreign festivals and made them its own. Moreover, Japanese traditions are society-related, whereas Indian festivals are mainly based on religion and regions.

Although no country in the world is as culturally diverse and colourful as India, the juxtaposition of humility and progress in Japanese culture is what piques my interest in it. As a result, exploring Japan and its culture is on my wishlist.

Foreign Culture : IELTS Speaking Practice Test 08

Updated On Jul 29, 2022

Since the Speaking test assesses your pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, it is critical to work on these areas. You should focus on one idea only and then expand that idea into a long meaningful sentence using grammar patterns and vocabulary.

In this way, practise topics like Foreign Culture from the IELTS Speaking practice tests which will help you improve your test-taking abilities and improve your speaking skills.

Speaking Part 2

Here is an audio of the sample answers given below. Please listen to it for more clarity on the Speaking Test.

Describe a foreign culture that you are interested in

IELTS Speaking Actual Tests with Answers (July – October 2022) | eBook

Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day

Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day

Sample Answer

Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day

Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day

It was great to see a culture with such a different outlook on life.

Vocabulary for Cue card

Speaking Part 3

1 Do you think it’s important to know about other cultures?

I do think it’s extremely important to learn about other cultures. Not only can you find out interesting things, but it makes it easier to interact with those people if you ever come in contact with them. Also, it makes it a lot easier to do business with those cultures. It’s important to be educated about the world and not just shut yourself into your own country.

2 How can we benefit from learning about other cultures?

Several ways that people can benefit from other cultures are in business, personal relationships, and just in self-improvement. In business, it is necessary to know a little bit about whatever culture you plan to work with. For instance, I think in Muslim cultures, shaking hands with your left hand is considered extremely rude. If you didn’t know that, it could hurt your chances of doing business. Also, it’s important just to improve yourself by learning as much as you can, and culture is a good subject.

3 What do you think is the best way to learn about another culture?

Obviously, the best way to learn about a culture is to go there and experience it. If you can get a feel for the culture firsthand, it will be a lot easier to pick things up, But I also believe that you can learn a ton about other cultures just by reading books about them. Reading about people’s experiences in foreign lands is the next best thing to being there.

4 Do you think that learning foreign languages can help us understand foreign cultures?

I’m not sure that just learning the language is a good way to learn about a culture, but most places where you would learn a language would help you learn about the culture, so indirectly, yes. The language alone isn’t great for understanding culture. For instance, German is a really harsh language, but Germans aren’t harsh people. You really need to stud y more than the language if you want to get to know a culture.

5 Do you think it’s better to go overseas to study a foreign language or to study it in your home country?

I think it is better to study a language in its native country. When you do that, you are engulfed in the language and forced to encounter it outside of the classroom. Otherwise, your only exposure to the language is when you’re studying or in the classroom. I know firsthand that when learning a foreign language in your home country, it is easy to lose what you have learned.

6 What is your understanding of the term “globalization”?

Globalization, in my mind, is the idea that the world is becoming smaller, so societies can interact and exchange culture more easily and more efficiently. Unfortunately, because some countries are richer and have more influence than others, certain cultures get spread around more than others. On the whole, however, globalization is a good thing because it is not the only culture that gets spread, but things like information and medicine can help people.

7 Do you think globalization is a good thing?

Yes, globalization has its problems, but for the most part, it is good for most people involved. Some people have different opinions because they are really concerned with the loss of culture, but for me, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. People have access to more information, so diseases can be better treated, food can be made more efficiently, and goods that make people’s lives easier are now available.

8 Do you think it’s easier to learn about other cultures today than it was before?

Yes, of course, it is. All you have to do is to look at art from long ago, about foreign cultures and you can see the lack of knowledge people had. Today, with the Internet and the number of books available, it is almost impossible to be ignorant. It is so easy to learn about anything you want.

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Describe a foreign culture that you like

Describe a foreign culture that you like.

My father is a businessman and he owns some of the reputed clothing stores in India. Recently I went to China with him to open a branch there. The traditional Lion Dance attracted me most in my short visit to China.

Every nation has their respective cultures and traditions. Similarly, Chinese people also have their respective norms and rules, and they follow the rules strictly. In fact, China is enriched with cultures and rituals and the citizens of the country are busy round the year to celebrate those. Lion Dance is one of the traditional Chinese dance and a part of Chinese cultural traditions. The dances are mostly during different festivals. Most of the Chinese citizens are of the view that the dance helps to bring good luck for those who arrange it and eliminates the impacts of evil powers from those specific organisers. So, they also organise the dance during different events like opening a new business or company or starting any activities that need the backings from the luck. However, the dance is enjoyable all of the times regardless of its arrangement either for a business opening or marking any local festival.

Before visiting China, I was not familiar with the culture. In fact, I had no idea about this. In my land, people usually break coconuts before doing something good. The events may vary but the activity is always the same. A coconut will be broken by the owner or any important individual so that all the barriers go away or get broken by the coconut. But when I came to China with my father, I was surprised about the Lion Dance. I had seen such types of dances on television and thought that the dance was something to be performed during the festivals. But when the dance took place before our branch in China, I was amazed by the dance. The dancing moves were also attractive and the performers maintained the perfect balance of their moves which made it enjoyable. The performers of the dance have displayed a varied range of dances with the large lion mask on them and they did it cheerfully so that the dance could be effective in eliminating the evil powers.

In India, typically some religious activities are done during the opening of any business or something new. Even when people make a new house for them, they follow some religious norms. Almost all of the people from different religions follow their respective norms directed from the religious leaders. Breaking a hard piece of coconut is one of the most popular norms when people start something new for them. If the coconut is not broken in a single strike, it is considered that the initiative will not be fruitful for them who have organised the event. So, they try to leave the project or the initiative. But in China, the rituals are a bit different. The Lion Dance is organised on a large scale and a team of participants perform here. They are hired to perform the dance perfectly so that there are no chances of evil forces to come back there again.

I think the Lion Dance is powerful as it does not require breaking coconuts in single strikes which often becomes risky. The people in India firmly believe that the first time failure to break the coconut will invite negative forces but in China, there are no such issues. Due to the performance of the Lion Dance, there are no such scopes for the evils to penetrate in the project.

I like the Lion Dance for some specific reasons. In India, the religious activities or breaking the coconut occurs on a small scale. Only a few people who are intimately related to the project are invited to the event. This is not an attractive event at all. But the Lion Dance is entirely opposite to my culture. It begins with the walking of the lion before the business, company or the project. The lion opens its eyes on the doors of the project where some traditional fruits and food crops are hanged. The dance is performed by some professional service providers and thus the chances for mistakes are less. Besides, a couple of lions are used in the dance and each of the lions contains two men to perform it. The performers imitate the moves of the lions and take different shapes with the mask that a real lion makes. The dresses and the masks used in the dance are colourful and the performances are really wonderful. So, I like this culture in China.

Sample Answer 2:
The celebration of Christmas is almost the same everywhere. But I did not have the idea how it was celebrated. So, when I went to the USA last year, I had to take part in a Christmas celebration. It appeared different to me. In fact, I was amazed by the activities. Thank you for the nice cue card topic. I will describe the event in brief here.

Christmas is the biggest festival for the Christian community across the world and it is celebrated on December 25 each year. Marking the day, the people start taking preparations from one or two weeks ago. They decorate the houses, get gifts for their near and dear ones and plan more other activities. The scenarios were similar but planting a tree inside the house was something new that I have never seen before.

I know about the traditions as I had to stay in the country for some time. I had to attend a conference in Colorado, one of the USA states. So, I left the country before the last week of December last year from Jakarta. Reaching in the country, I had to stay for around 20 days for the conference purposes. By this time, I got the chances to know about the local cultures. I was invited to the residence of one of the conference participants and then he showed me the Christmas tree. It looked really nice and attractive.

The cultures of the USA and Indonesia is remarkably different. In my country, I have not seen any Christian community people decorate the home so nicely. They perform the ritual as it should be performed. On the other sides, the people in the USA take this as the largest religious festival for them. So, they try to celebrate the day amid great festivity. In Indonesia, people take leave for one or two days to celebrate the Christmas day while the people in the USA take a long leave to celebrate the day. Offices, schools, business organizations remain closed marking the event for around a week. People need to shop their necessaries before the closure. Snowfall is another interesting event at that time.

I liked the Christmas celebration in the USA. They made the event more attractive than it was in my country. So, I was amazed. The things that attracted my attention were the decoration of the houses, selection of precious and nice gifts for the people, the Christmas tree and many more issues. It was the moment for them to enjoy themselves. They also sing the Christmas carols while some of the houses organize for storytelling competition marking the day. I also like the sending and exchanging of the Christmas greeting. For all the reasons, I like this foreign culture much.