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How Can Learning Local Culture Make Your Travels More Meaningful?
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Jun 13, 2025
Travel is more than ticking places off a bucket list. It’s not just about the photos, the food, or the landmarks. At its best, travel is about real connection — getting closer to a place and its people in a way that goes beyond the surface. Anita shares why cultural literacy can transform your travels — listen now and click here (https://abusonadustyroad.com/why-understanding-local-culture-is-the-secret-to-meaningful-travel/) to read more about Why Understanding Local Culture Is the Secret to Meaningful Travel. #DustyRoadsPodcast #MeaningfulTravel #CulturalLiteracy #TravelTips #LocalCultureMatters #TravelSmarter #TravelConnections #SeeTheWorldDifferently Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/globaltradegal)
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hi this is Anita from the Dusty Roads
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podcast today I want to talk a little
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bit about why when you travel
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understanding the local culture is so
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important i was telling someone the
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other day about I was flying on a United
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flight and a a flight attendant sat next
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to me i said to her she said "Where do
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you live?" I said "Oh I I live in
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China." At the time I was living in
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China and she said "Oh do you speak
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Japanese?" And I said "No I live in
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China not Japan." So I think it's really
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important that when you're traveling or
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if you're in the travel industry you
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need to understand a little bit about
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the world and people in the world so
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first of all let's talk about something
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which is called cultural literacy and
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why does it matter you know what is
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cultural literacy cultural literacy is
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the ability to understand and respect
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the norms values behaviors and customs
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of other cultures it's not just about
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learning about what to do or not do it's
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about knowing why those things matter to
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the people who live there so let me
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repeat that again because I feel like
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this is really an important definition
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to understand that it's not just about
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like saying like oh you know I I
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understand the history it's about
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understanding why the norms values
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behaviors and customs of other cultures
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are important to them and the people who
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live in those places why is that
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important to them when you understand
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these cultural cues you avoid being the
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clueless outsider or become someone who
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you know who you can become someone
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who's then truly engaged with the world
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part of my blog A Bus on a Dusty Road
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and this Dusty Roads podcast is all
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about living your life as a global
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citizen and that's one of the things
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that I really am an advocate for is
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basically let's live our life as a
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global citizen let's let's try to
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embrace and understand other cultures
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but not just you know embrace and
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understand but really understand what
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makes these other cultures tick why are
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they the way that they are and so we
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have a cultural understanding of the
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world as I've said many times in this
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podcast or as I've said many times is
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that you really it's not a matter of
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that you have to really like travel to
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those places but if you can just start
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with wanting to understand you know in
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you know people that from other cultures
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in your own neighborhood that right
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there is a start you know in practical
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terms cultural literacy helps you by to
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avoid offending you know local people if
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you're traveling
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It can build real connections with
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people you can experience places more
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authentically you'll really see an
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authentic side of this part of the world
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and you can navigate social situations
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with confidence you without this
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cultural literacy you're just a tourist
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but with it you're a traveler who gets
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it and I really love that thought that
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you know without it you're just you're
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just someone you're just you're just a
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tourist just an everyday tourist you're
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just somebody else who's touring but
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when you begin to understand cultural
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literacy you know you're a traveler who
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really gets it who gets and understands
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the travel in Asia relationships respect
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and rituals are all very important many
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Asian cultures value relationships and
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social harmony you know in countries
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like China Japan South Korea the concept
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of face is very important to a person's
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reputation and social standing that you
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know this can play a huge role in daily
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interactions you don't want someone to
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be able to lose face they want to be
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able to keep their face this will help
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maintain harmony you know take a typical
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dinner in Asia if you're invited to
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someone's home in China or Vietnam it's
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not just about feeding you it's about
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showing respect care and generosity your
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host might insist you try every single
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dish you saying "I'm full may not be
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accepted the first time." and they want
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to make sure that you're happy that
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you're being taken care of to western
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travel you know this could feel a bit
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pushy like I don't want to try
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everything that they're giving me or I
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don't really like that but to them this
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is showing a gesture of deep hospitality
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and in fact you know when you go into
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some places like some of these places
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you may actually find even if you're in
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a factory where you're eating and the
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factory you know starts putting food on
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your plate or they start you know trying
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to force you to almost force feed you
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this for them is a way for them to show
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how much they appreciate that you are
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there in Thailand cultural respect
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extends the daily body language like the
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head's considered the most sacred part
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of the body so you don't touch someone's
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head even playfully is considered
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disrespectful
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likewise the feet are considered very
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lowly and dirty so pointing your feet at
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someone especially a a Buddhist statue
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or monk is considered to be very rude
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you know in Japan bowing is is not just
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a greeting it's a layered form of
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communication with different meanings
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depending on the depth and duration so
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if you've ever watched like Japanese
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movies or Japanese films you may see
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them bowing quite a bit and that all is
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very much part of the cultural signs of
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respect europe and one of the problems
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that a lot of Americans have is they
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don't tone it down and just listen more
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that's why you know if you talk to a lot
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of your European friends they might
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consider you know some Americans to be
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loudmouthed and you know big mouth
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because they feel like you know
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Americans just don't get it where for
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Europe it's really about more like you
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know you don't have this huge volume you
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know of public behavior you know in the
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US being friendly can mean being
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enthusiastically chatty and and loud in
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fact a lot of my Europeans friends say
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"Oh Americans talk to everybody." You
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know and in Europe they may not you you
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know public spaces are for quieter more
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reserved behavior you know talking
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loudly or really loudly in a public
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space or transport or cafe can you draw
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annoyed stairs they may you know people
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may not like that they they believe that
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it should be more of a quiet and you
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know people should have some more
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decorum about them personal space can be
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a big thing in Northern Europe you know
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standing too close to someone or jumping
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in conversation i actually have a little
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bit of a harder time with this
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especially here in Asia where you know
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there could be no personal space
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especially like when I'm getting on an
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airplane and you know I've got somebody
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behind me who's just right at my heel it
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just annoys me to no end i just feel
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like just don't push me you know and you
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know I think maybe that could be my
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northern European you know sort of
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thinking or upbringing that I've had
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here you know in southern Europe like
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Spain or Italy conversations may be more
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animated and physical touches or pat on
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the shoulder on the cheek could be
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common also in some eur um European
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countries people value understatement
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and you know and so it really depends
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like even within Europe itself not
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everything is the same throughout all
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Europe the Middle East too is another
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place where you know cultures and
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hospitality is a nicity it's a core
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value you know guests are treated with
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immense respect refusing food or drink
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too quickly can seem impolite you taking
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time to share tea and engage in
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conversation can be a way of building
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trust and this can be really hard for
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like especially for you know those of us
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that are raised maybe you know in
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American you know we may be impatient we
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may sit there and say why do we have to
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sit here and you know drink the tea or
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other things you know we want to get
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right to the point of the conversation
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where you know in a lot of these other
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cultures it's all about the pace of life
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it's about the slowness of it all it's
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about you maybe getting to know you a
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little bit building the trust before you
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start in on type of conversation you
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know modesty and dress and behavior can
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also be important you know especially
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for women and you know it's not just
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about pleasing behavior it could be
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aligning with the local expectations and
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showing cultural awareness latin America
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can be very different there could be
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warmth you know time and flexibility in
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countries like Latin America social
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warmth is a norm expect hugs you know
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kisses on your cheek they can be very
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close to you during conversation
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declining some of these gestures come
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off as cold or unfriendly time can be
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perceived a little bit differently you
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know late doesn't always mean the same
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thing a dinner invitation at 7:00 p.m
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may not start until 8:30 if you're too
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rigid or impatient could cause friction
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you know you need to understand that
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there can be some rhythms that are
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taking place
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africa has a great community and respect
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for elders you know it's is you know
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Africa as a n as a continent is you know
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extremely diverse but you know values
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and respect for elders are common
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threads across many cultures on the
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continent a place like Ghana or Kenya
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greeting everyone when entering a room
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or public space is customary you know
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skipping greetings can be seen as rude
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elders are often you know treated with
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deference you know speaking to older
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individuals requires politeness and
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sometimes a more formal tone so you need
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to really understand these things if
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you're going into Africa you might ask
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well why does all this matter why should
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it matter if I just want to travel well
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it goes back to what I said at the
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beginning you know you know having
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cultural literacy is the difference
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between being just a tourist or being a
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traveler who who actually gets it who
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understands it who understands all of
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these differences
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i've written a blog post on this that
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you know has some tips about this too if
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you're going to be traveling you know
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some different things that you can do to
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make sure that you're not just a tourist
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but you're a traveler who actually gets
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it and understands it that you're a
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traveler that travels with cultural
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literacy and we'll put a description
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below into the blog post which is
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entitled why understanding local culture
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is a secret to meaningful travel we hope
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that when you travel that you will try
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to be a traveler who gets it and not
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just be a tourist but someone who
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actually gets it and understands it that
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you will be someone who strives to live
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your life as a global citizen this is
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Anita from the Dusty Road podcast thank
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you so much for listening we hope that
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you'll join with us to live your life as
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a global citizen that you'll subscribe
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to that podcast and be part of our
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community thank you
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[Music]
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