Experience

Experience encompasses practical experience in dealing with other cultures, the link with one’s own culture, the lessons drawn from that experience and from other cultures.

Many people learn to cope by starting with a situation at hand, trying to learn from it and to apply it in a wider context. Reflection is really useful with such an approach. Such learning may be on a subconscious level.

By dealing with other cultures and processing differences, you change yourself as well. This is in line with the triangular model. Developments in the top three layers are reflected in the bottom layer; experiences with other cultures are reflected in the cultural backpack of the individual. The art is not to cause tension in that backpack, but to create harmony.

In dealing with another culture one’s own culture (at all different levels, all hundreds of paradigms) is working through. This harks back to one of the hurdles of studying culture, ‘being part of it’ (see Culture 1). You cannot leave your own culture behind; you read the situation (initially) through the glasses of your own culture. At the same time the pitfall should be avoided to see everything through the lens of one’s own culture, because the other culture is then limited to what is better or worse than one’s own culture. The other culture ceases to be an enriching experience in its own right.

You may also learn something from another culture, just because it is useful, not in terms of dealing with differences. The trick is to keep the balance.