Where and how can we get to know people from different cultures?

Off the top of my head, there are a few ways to meet people from other cultures, I think. I guess one of the most obvious ways would be, providing we have enough time and money, to travel. In this way, we can quickly gain first-hand experience in exploring a foreign area and the local inhabitants, their language, their traditions, and their unique lifestyle.

Another way I guess is through social media platforms. People from all over the world are connected to some type of social media channel, and so by using such platforms, we can encounter and chat with those from different cultural backgrounds. This is much more affordable of course for most people.

A third way is to attend cultural or language-related events, for instance, events organized by a local language exchange group. But there are, of course, other ways, such as going to where foreigners hang out, and also to work for a company that hires foreign employees. In fact, I’d say there are numerous ways.

• gain first-hand experience 获得一手经历
• local inhabitants 当地居民
• unique 独特的
• social media platforms 社媒平台
• encounter 遇到
• affordable 负担得起的
• -related 与……相关的
• hang out 闲逛

What are the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity?

Hmmm, let me see, well, I guess the advantage of this type of diversity is that it can help accelerate innovation and creativity, especially in the art and entertainment sectors. Compared with monoculture, a society peppered with a variety of ethnicities and cultures tends to be able to view challenges and solve problems, perhaps, from more perspectives.

This diversity, however, can also be a recipe for conflict. Unlike its monoculture counterpart, where people speak the same language and share similar traditions, and have a universal understanding and even a collective mindset, cultural diversity is bound to, at some point, I think, to erupt into conflict, for instance, in religious beliefs and in social rights, or between local inhabitants and the different and perhaps radical views of foreigners. Diversity with limits can be positive I think, but unchecked, I think it’s a recipe for disaster.

• accelerate innovation 加速创新
• creativity 创意
• monoculture 单一文化
• peperred with 充斥着
• a variety of 多种多样的
• enthnicities 民族
• counterpart 对应的事物
• have a universal understanding 普遍的/相似的理解
• a collective mindset 集体心理
• erupt into 爆发
• conflict 冲突
• radical views 激进的观点
• unchecked 放任；不加约束
• a recipe for 导致
• disaster 灾难

How can traditional cultures and other cultures co-exist?

I’m not quite sure what ‘other cultures’ refer to here, but if you mean non-traditional cultures, then I’m not sure if in fact that they can co-exist except with a shaky understanding that without tolerance and compromise, things could become unstable.

In many societies these days, I think traditional cultures are being elbowed out of the way to make way for some new way of thinking for new groups of people. I think it actually takes a top-down approach to ensure traditional culture continues to exist, for without that direction, traditional culture it seems doomed to extinction, at least that’s how I read it.

• a shaky understanding 模棱两可的理解
• tolerance 容忍
• compromise 妥协
• unstable 不稳定
• elbowed out of the way 被挤走
• make way for 给……腾出空间
• top-down approach 从上至下的方式
• doomed to 注定
• extinction 灭绝

Which Chinese traditions are disappearing?

Interesting question. Personally, I think festival-relevant traditions are gradually fading away.

For instance, Spring Festival, the most important festival here in China, seems to me to be gradually lacking the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year I remember, and year by year something seems different. Some families and some of the younger generations don’t even bother to cook at home on the eve of the Chinese New Year, and instead celebrate it in a restaurant.

Another phenomenon I’ve noticed is that local dialects are disappearing. Youngsters are taught in Mandarin and they communicate with their peers in Mandarin as well, and it doesn’t really matter where their parents are originally from. Consequently, I think it’s only a matter of time before some dialects disappear, and in doing so, will result in some traditions being lost.

It's the price we pay I guess for ‘development’.

• -relevant 和……相关的
• fading away 逐渐淡出
• don't even bother to 甚至懒得……
• phenomenon 现象
• local dialects 方言