The Role of Cross-Cultural Understanding (CCU) in Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

Every nation or even a group of people or community has their own culture. This sometimes makes some contradictory between one culture and another. Therefore, the different cultural background between one nation or community and another will often make some hindrance like inner conflict, frustration, and even shock. Especially those who think that their own culture is better than the others, usually they directly dislike and refuse any other culture that does not match with their own culture. There are 2 (two) kinds of shock in CCU (Cross Cultural Understanding), namely culture shock and country shock. This study was intended to overcome some problems like inner conflict, frustration and any other kind of shock dealing with foreign language learning. Based on the study analysis, to overcome some problems related to different cultural background, the key is only one: the learners have to learn the other nation’s / community’s culture through CCU. For example, if everybody of us moves to another country, we must know and realize that every country/nation has their own culture. As a new comer, we must try very hard and be capable of adjusting with the new culture of that country or community if we want to keep on living among the majority of other people in a long time. Meanwhile, everything related to different cultural background can be learnt and known from CCU learning. Therefore, CCU is essential in foreign language learning. This learning takes an important role in efforts to avoid and eliminate misunderstanding, frustration and both culture shock and country shock between the two persons or groups of people/community having different cultural background.