Describe a person you know who is from a different culture.
You should say:
Who he/she is? Where he/she is from? How you knew him/her? And explain how you feel about him/her.
Note: You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.
Model Answer 1:
Introduction: Well, it is not uncommon these days for people to make friends from different cultures and the credit goes to globalisation and improved technology as there are no geographical boundaries today.
Who he/she is? and Where he/she is from? and How you knew him/her? I have made many friends who are from different cultures but one I would like to talk about here is Jason. Jason is an American and I found him on a chatting platform where one day I was trying to find an English-speaking person to chat to and this is something I often do to improve my English ability.
We become friends in no time. The fact is that Jason is equally interested to travel to India. So, during this chat, he asked me many things about India and the places to visit in India.
Now, we have become good friends and we frequently chat during this time, chatting with Jason I got to learn a lot about American culture. For example, I have learnt that he is only 18 and he is planning to travel to India alone.
Because he has saved and earned money on his own for this trip which is quite surprising for me because in India children remain dependent on their parents for quite a long. Now, another thing that I got to know from him is that Americans are really workaholics and they are among the richest people in the world.
In fact, if you check out the top richest people in the world, the majority are from America. I am quite interested to visit this country when I learnt from him about the culture of different states,
The weather of America and especially some of the worth seeing places there, such as Niagara falls and statue of Liberty. I must say that there are a few things that I do not like about the American culture as well, as he said that people up there are materialistic.
And explain how you feel about him/her. They give more importance to money rather than giving to family, friends or society which is not in my country at all. But I think that cultural diversity is what develops your curiosity to learn about different cultures.
Conclusion: I am looking forward to seeing Jason in India where I will personally meet him to learn more about his country and culture.
Model Answer 2:
Introduction:
I don’t know many people from other cultures because I have not travelled to other countries much.
Who he/she is? and Where he/she is from?
However, today I am going to talk about a Japanese person, whom I met this past summer.
There he fell in love with a girl Himiko from Japan.
They got married in India and I met her for the first time at the wedding ceremony.
She was wearing the traditional Indian wedding saree and she looked really pretty in it.
She seemed very keen to learn and follow Indian rituals and traditions.
She wore all the traditional dresses, she followed all the customs, and she wasn’t just following them, she also asked why they were done. Even I learnt the reasons for some of the traditions because of her.
I was really impressed with her, and I wanted to know more about Japanese culture.
However, as the marriage ceremony was very hectic, we couldn’t communicate much.
However, after the marriage, they came and stayed with us for 1 day.
They were visiting Golden Temple and our house lies on the way.
The first thing I learnt was that the Japanese are very punctual.
This was evident every place we went.
For example, we decided to go for dinner at night and we kept a time of 7 PM so that at least people would be ready by 7:30, to my surprise, she was ready 5 minutes before 7.
The second thing I learnt was about cleanliness.
She carried two three pairs of shoes and chappals even though she was visiting us for just one day.
She took off her shoes outside the house, inside the house she wore different shoes, and then she had another pair of chappals for the bathroom.
She told me it is the norm in Japan for hygiene reasons.
And explain how you feel about him/her and Conclusion:
It was a wonderful experience meeting her and learning about Japanese culture.
I wish I get to visit Japan one day and experience its rich culture.
IELTS Speaking Part 3 : Follow up Questions
Here some examples of follow up questions that you may asked during your speaking part 3 by examiner related to cue card “describe a person you know who is from a different culture”.
1. Where and how can we get to know people of different cultures better? I think social platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram are great ways to interact/connect with people from different cultures. Here people from different cultures can discuss like-minded ideas and interests. However, the traditional way to learn about a different culture would be to read books related to it, watch movies, or may be travel to that place.
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity? If I talk about advantages, cultural diversity makes our world more interesting. If there was only one culture in the world, it would have been a really boring place. Cultural diversity acts as a change that makes people curious about each other. Also, people get to learn a lot from each other’s cultures. However, from a disadvantage point of view, cultural diversity can sometimes create a divide amongst people. People of one culture might believe themselves to be superior as compared to others and it can lead to hate and difference among them.
3. How can traditional culture and other cultures coexist? For different cultures to co-exist together, especially traditional and modern, it requires a lot of effort from the members of the society. Followers of both cultures should show respect and understanding for each other and should not indulge in any activities that could hurt each other’s sentiments. Also, I feel that the generation gap plays a huge role in traditional and modern culture, and narrowing it down can help both cultures to co-exist peacefully.
4. Which Indian traditions are disappearing? I am not a person who is much into following traditions and cultures. However, I also don’t think that Indian traditions are disappearing, in fact, I feel that with the help of Internet and social media, youngsters in India are becoming more aware of their customs and traditions. My family members, relatives, and neighbours still follow the same old traditions which they used to 10-20 years ago.
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