Culture

We live in a world where cultures are separated by thousands of kilometers. An average teenager in Kazakhstan can listen to Korean music on the way to school, learn Japanese through apps, watch an American film in the evening, and communicate with someone from another country before going to sleep. For my generation, cultural exchange is not something unusual—it is part of everyday life. 

But this raises an interesting question: when we become fascinated by other cultures, do we risk losing our own? 

I don’t think we do. I believe that learning about another culture does not necessarily mean abandoning your own. Sometimes, the opposite happens: discovering the world makes us look at our own culture with new eyes. 

Perhaps our curiosity about other cultures comes from something very human: the desire to understand what is different from us. We don’t necessarily want to become someone else. We simply want to know how other people see the world. Today, technology revolutionised the way we communicate, making it easier and accessible. We can communicate with people from different countries, learn foreign languages, watch films from around the world, and listen to music in languages we may not even understand. This allows us to broaden our interests and discover perspectives that we might never have encountered otherwise. 

However, this can also create anxiety. We often hear older generations say that “young people are losing their identity” because of globalization. People worry that young people no longer care about their traditions, languages, or history. Sometimes this concern is understandable. Globalization can cause local traditions or languages to receive less attention, especially when young people spend most of their time consuming global media. 

But exposure is not the same as replacement. 

Someone can love Korean music and still love Kazakh literature. Someone can learn Japanese and still speak their native language. Someone can watch American movies and still celebrate traditional holidays with their family. Learning about another culture does not automatically erase the culture we grew up with. Identity is not a competition in which there is only enough space for one culture. 

In fact, other cultures can teach us a lot about ourselves. 

When we watch foreign films or explorethe way people live in other countries, we automatically begin comparing what we see with what is familiar to us. For example, when we learn about education system in China, we might catch ourselves thinking, “Wow, it’s not like that in our country!” At that moment, we are not only learning about China. We are also looking at our own country from a different perspective. 

This is when culture stops being something we simply receive and becomes something we actually think about. Imagine living your entire life inside one culture. Many things would seem completely normal because you would have nothing to compare them with. You might not even realize that the way your family celebrates holidays, communicates, studies, or treats certain traditions is unique. 

Sometimes, we only notice our own culture when we encounter something different. 

If someone asked me to explain what Kazakh culture really means to me, I wouldn’t point to a textbook. I would show them the steppes. 

Kazakh culture has historically been closely connected to the vast steppe and the natural environment. The nomadic way of life influenced many aspects of our history and traditions. Ideas of freedom, resilience, hospitality, and community became important parts of our cultural heritage. 

Of course, being interested in other cultures does not make these things disappear. 

You can learn five foreign languages, watch foreign anime, listen to international music every day, and still remain connected to your roots. You can be interested in Korean culture without pretending to be Korean. You can study Japanese without becoming Japanese. You can admire another country’s traditions while still being curious about your own. 

The important thing is not to confuse appreciation with imitation. 

There is a difference between genuinely trying to understand a culture and simply copying everything that looks interesting from it. Cultural exchange becomes meaningful when we are curious about the ideas, history, people, and experiences behind what we see. 

For example, learning a language is not only about memorizing vocabulary. It can also introduce us to another way of expressing emotions, communicating with people, and understanding their society. Watching a foreign film can be more than entertainment if it makes us think about why the characters behave differently from people we know. Learning about another country’s traditions can make us ask questions about the traditions in our own families. 

This is one of the reasons I believe cultural exchange is especially important for young people. 

My own experience has shown me that people can be interested in different cultures without losing their own identity. Through my Around the World Club, I have discussed topics such as stereotypes, school life, and unusual traditions from different countries with other young people. The purpose is not to decide which culture is better. It is to become curious about why people live differently. 

And sometimes, after learning something about another country, we start asking questions about Kazakhstan. 

Why do we have this tradition? 
Where did it come from? 
Why do we speak this way? 
What makes our culture different? 
What parts of it do we want to preserve? 

These questions are valuable because culture should not simply be something we repeat without understanding. 

At the same time, I don’t think we should romanticize globalization. There are real risks. If young people completely lose interest in their own history, language, and traditions, some cultural knowledge can disappear over generations. But I don’t think the solution is to isolate young people from the rest of the world. 

The solution is to make our own culture interesting enough to explore. 

We should not tell young people, “Don’t watch foreign films because they will destroy your identity.” We should instead encourage them to watch those films, learn languages, explore other societies—and then become curious about where they themselves come from. 

After all, identity is not a museum exhibit that must remain frozen under glass to stay authentic. Culture changes. It grows. Every generation adds something new to it. 

Our grandparents experienced a different world from the one we live in. We have access to information and communication that previous generations could hardly imagine. Naturally, this changes the way we think, communicate, and express ourselves. That does not necessarily mean our culture is disappearing. It can also mean that our culture is developing along with us. 

So, what actually makes up our identity? 

Is it language? Family? Traditions? Memories? Values? History? The place where we were born? Or the choices we make ourselves? 

Probably, it is all of them combined. 

We don’t have to choose between “our culture” and “other cultures.” We can learn from the world while remaining connected to where we came from. We can be curious without abandoning ourselves. 

Perhaps the goal isn’t to build a wall around our culture to protect it from everything foreign. Perhaps the goal is to know our own culture well enough that we can explore the world without being afraid of what we might discover. 

Can you love other cultures without losing your own? 

Absolutely. 

Sometimes, the wider we look at the world, the more clearly we see where we stand.