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Cultural divergence is prevalent among various countries present in the world in the form of varied cuisines and attires used by their population. Many believe that the foreigners travelling to these foreign destinations should oblige and please locals by imitating their cultures and ways of living. This essay only partly agrees with the statement that copying the traditions and cultures of local ethnicity is to be followed religiously.
On one hand, when you fall in line with local practices and beliefs, you are able to gel well with local communities of that country. The people welcome you for showing respect to their culture and go out of the way to help you in whatever way possible. They will invite you to showcase their cultural events and program’s which are normally elusive for foreign nationals. Since you blend well with local population and very much belong to them there are very few chances of being alienated. For example, When I visited UK last year wearing formal English attire, many neighbors welcomed me and invited to their house parties.
On the contrary, if you are imitating the locals too much and without paying attention to details it may hurt their sentiments to that extent that it may put you in a difficult situation and jeopardize your chances of pleasing local communities. Many people were subject to racial abuse and discrimination while they were exposed copying local practices but at a inferior level. In a recent example, a foreign national was thrashed in UAE by locals for wearing their attire the wrong way and attending a pub which is prohibited in their culture.
To conclude this essay, it is observed that while following local cultures and traditions appease local communities and help you blend with them more naturally and give you opportunity to explore and experience local cultures to the maximum. But overdoing such practices without due diligence and without thinking about negative consequences may be a really bad idea and should be really avoided.
