Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Newspapers and magazines are the best ways to learn about a foreign country.
In today's developing world, the cultural borders between the countries are being effaced
at a high speed as the international communications and bonds are becoming more strong. There are a lot of
students that study abroad and much more businesspeople that travel internationally. It requires that
they choose an efficient way to learn about foreign countries. Although it is a good way to
use newspapers and magazines to this end, I think it is not the best way, nowadays. I would actually
prefer the visual media like TV and internet video websites like youtube as the best ways
to learn about foreign countries.
Firstly, compared to reading an article on a newspaper or a magazine, it usually takes
much less time and concentration to watch a video like a documentary to get familiar with another country.
Usually, reading a report or an article needs that you have sufficient concentration and take enough
time to understand it as an integrated collection of facts and descriptions. On the other hand, when
someone is watching a video about introducing a typical country, it is much easier to stay involved and
follow the flow of information as another person -the narrator- is responsible for presenting and
keeping the audience update. So, the audience need much less concentration compared to someone who is
reading a text. This is why it is a better way to watch videos than reading newspapers and magazines
to get familiar with other countries, from a time and concentration cost point of view.
Furthermore, the visual effects in the movies and videos, turns the process of getting information into an
amusing entertainment. Sometimes, reading an article turns into a boring process. Specifically, when it does not have
enough colorful and beautiful pictures and illustrations. In contrast, watching a video for the same aim gives you
the opportunity of enjoying attractive visual and sonic effects while you are getting the desired information.
Beside having fun, learning with pleasure can cause the information last for much longer time in one's mind,
based on some recent studies. Thus, it is also a more effective way of learning if you try to watch videos
instead of reading magazines and newspapers.
In conclusion, I beleive that reading newspapers and magazines is not really the best way to get to know
about foreign countries as it can be time consuming, concentration costly and sometimes even boring. In contrast,
I recommend everyone to choose watching videos and documentaries as the best possible way to get familiar
with different coutries.
Submitted by Hossein Nemati on