ANNA-MARIE
Student in Market & Management Anthropology | SDU
“I believe that there are a few ways to obtain intercultural competences for example by living abroad, learning a foreign language, or by meeting people from different cultures. But it is important to remember that one needs to keep an open mind while doing all these three activities.”
JOHANN
Junior professor in intercultural pedagogy | UHA
“I come from the educational sciences and I therefore start from the assumption that every human being has a whole bunch of skills and potential that he or she can exploit but often does not know how to exploit them well. […] On this basis, of who we are intrinsically, we can develop our intercultural competence and therefore adapt what we learn to our own needs, which is why we don’t necessarily need the same things at the same time.”
LILOU
Student in international communication | UNISTRA
“Growing up in an intercultural environment helps. For example I grew up in a German-French family, and it teaches you very early to go out of your comfort zone and live with different traditions and lifestyles at the same time. Of course you can also learn them thanks to personal motivation by learning a new culture or a new language.”
KEN
Former member of the central student council | UvA
“I think this is a lifelong learning journey. Intercultural competences can be picked up if someone wants to. In my experience, it starts with self-acknowledgment, awareness of one’s own culture and keeping an open mind to other cultures. For those who are motivated, it is natural to be intentionally or consciously drawn to varying cultural exposures then interact and adapt to them.”
