109.
When people move to another country, some of them decide to follow the customs
of the new country. Others prefer to keep their own customs. Compare these two
choices. Which one do you prefer? Support your answer with specific details.
When people move
to live in another country, they face many difficulties and problems at the
beginning. Adapt new customs or keep their old ones? This is a big question.
The answer depends on each person because there are both advantages and
disadvantages of acquiring new customs and of keeping the old ones. If I had a
chance to move to another country, I prefer following new customs because I
want to be treated as a local person.
The advantage of
keeping their own customs is to preserve their identity. People carry their
traditions since they were born. These traditions have been part of their life.
Thus, it is obvious that they want to keep their customs such as habits, living
styles, religious practice, and cultural activities. They want to be
themselves. Furthermore, keeping such customs allows them to avoid many changes
in their life when settling down in a place they don’t know much about. The
disadvantage of keeping their own customs is that sometimes these customs
contradict the customs of the new country. For instance, smoking is considered
a bad habit for women in Asia. However, it is totally normal habit of women in western countries.
Adapting new
customs helps people integrate quickly into new communities in the new country.
If people don’t follow new customs, they are not part of the new community.
Hence, they will have troubles in their professional and daily life since local
people may have some discrimination towards new settlers who look very different
and who behave in a different way. In such case, conforming to local social
rules and customs is vital for them if they don’t want to be excluded by local
people. On the other hands, if people follow new customs, they are considered
part of the new community. Thus, their life is much easier. However, they may
have to sacrifice their own values to adapt the new ones.
I prefer
following new customs as I want to integrate to the new community. For
instance, when I settled down in France
ten years ago, I did not drink wines during a party. People looked at me as a
stranger. I felt excluded from their conversations because they did not talk to
me. Thus, I quickly realized that it was important for me to follow their
customs. Therefore, I learned to drink wines, thing that I had never done
before in my home country, Vietnam,
because drinking wines is not appreciated as a good quality of women there.
Since then, I have drunk wines at parties. Wherever I go, local people accept
me easily when I drink wines since I show them that I know their customs.
In conclusion, it
is up to each person to choose to follow new customs or to keep his own customs
when they move to another country. The ideal solution is to keep their own ones
and follow the new ones because they can both keep their identity and integrate
into new communities. It is also the solution I prefer because it’s necessary
to be part of a new community. At the same time, I try to preserve my own
customs to which I attach strongly.
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