The internet means people do not need to travel to foreign countries to understand how others live. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

People living in

this

digital era are provided access to the majority of the world’s knowledge at their fingertips thanks to the internet.

This

makes it easier for those interested in learning about another culture to understand its way of life through videos, pictures and online interactions with locals.

While

this

may hold some truth, in order to speak the native tongue and understand the mannerisms of another nation, it is imperative that someone who is interested in another nation's culture goes there to experience it for themself. It would be a challenge to understand a foreign language only through virtual interactions with those from that country. As a matter of fact, talking to people online and seeing them on a computer screen provides a completely different experience than being there and physically interacting with them.

For instance

, if an individual had lived in France for years, over time that person would likely adopt the language and pattern of thinking as French people. In most cases, these results can not be replicated through the internet.

In addition

, learning how someone else behaves in their country would require one's physical presence and that cannot be replaced by observing & educating oneself online. By seeing the attitudes & reactions of foreigners up front, a clear image regarding their perspective on the world and reality can be developed. It would pose great difficulty to learn

otherwise

. To summarize,

although

the internet may provide us with a small window allowing us to peek at another culture, developing a deeper idea of its manners and language would definitely require being there