Globalisation& Culture
Comparing trends · generalising responsibly · tend to / on the whole
Your level · You are here
Get Talking · Section 1
5 minStart the conversation
Name one way your country has been changed by globalisation in your lifetime. Is the change good, bad, or both?
What's one thing your culture has imported (food, music, words, habits) that everyone now treats as 'ours'?
What's one stereotype about your country that's partly true, and one that's completely wrong? How would you politely correct each?
Grammar · Section 2
8–10 minCareful generalisation — tend to, on the whole, broadly speaking, in many cases
Don't say 'all' or 'always' for cultures. Say 'tend to', 'on the whole', 'broadly speaking', 'for the most part'.
- Cultural and trend statements without hedging sound like stereotypes; with hedging they sound like adult observations.
- Five tools.
- (1) TEND TO + infinitive: 'People in Northern Europe tend to be more reserved in public.' (Implies: there are exceptions, this is a pattern.) (2) ON THE WHOLE: 'On the whole, working hours have come down over fifty years.' (3) BROADLY SPEAKING: 'Broadly speaking, urban diets have globalised faster than rural ones.' (4) IN MANY CASES / FOR THE MOST PART: 'For the most part, English has become the default working language of international business.' (5) THERE'S A TENDENCY FOR X TO + infinitive: 'There's a tendency for younger generations to identify less with national borders.' These signal 'I'm describing a pattern, not declaring a law'.
- WARNING: avoid 'all' / 'always' / 'every' for cultural generalisations — they sound like stereotypes and are usually wrong.
- KEY DETAIL: 'tend to' is a verb (not a noun) — 'People TEND to be cautious', not 'People HAVE TEND to'.
- When comparing cultures or countries.
- When describing a broad trend that has many exceptions.
- When you want to sound thoughtful rather than stereotyping.
- In academic writing or exam discussions about society.
e.g. British people tend to apologise even when they're not at fault.
| Stereotype | Careful generalisation |
|---|---|
| Italians are always late. | Italian social life tends to run on a slightly looser sense of time. |
| Germans are cold. | German social interaction tends to be more direct and less small-talky than in some cultures. |
| British people drink tea. | Tea remains, broadly speaking, the default hot drink in British homes. |
| Everyone uses English online. | For the most part, English has become the default working language online. |
British people tend to apologise even when they're not at fault.
On the whole, mobile internet has reached rural areas faster than fixed broadband.
Broadly speaking, dietary habits are globalising, but local cuisines are also being rediscovered.
There's a tendency for cities to become more similar to each other than to their own countryside.
For the most part, English has become the default working language of international business.
Not this
All Italians are loud.
Say this
Italians tend to be more expressive in conversation than, say, Finns.
'All' + cultural claim = stereotype. Use 'tend to' + specific comparison.
Memory tip
Cultural claim? Add a hedge: 'tend to' / 'on the whole' / 'broadly speaking'. NEVER 'all' or 'always'.
Natural English
In English-speaking academic and journalistic culture, unhedged cultural generalisations sound uneducated. The hedge is a marker of careful thinking, not weakness.
Question 1.Which is the most CAREFUL generalisation?
Question 2.Which signals 'a broad pattern with exceptions'?
Question 3.Which is INCORRECT?
Question 4.Which sounds STEREOTYPING?
Build the sentence → spot the natural chunks → say it aloud → reply like a real conversation.
1.Rebuild the sentence — then say it aloud.
2.Rebuild the sentence — then say it aloud.
3.Rebuild the sentence — then say it aloud.
4.Rebuild the sentence — then say it aloud.
Quick check 1.Best hedge for a cultural claim:
Vocabulary · Section 3
5–7 minWords & phrases to learn
Globalisation
the worldwide spread of goods, ideas, culture and capital
In context
"Globalisation has reshaped retail in every continent."
Now try it yourself
Name one industry in your country that's been transformed by globalisation.
Homogenisation
the process of becoming more uniform
In context
"There's a real homogenisation of city centres — same shops, same look."
Now try it yourself
Describe one example of cultural homogenisation you've noticed.
Local identity
the distinctive character of a place or community
In context
"Local identity can survive globalisation if it's actively maintained."
Now try it yourself
Describe one thing that defines local identity in your hometown.
Cultural exchange
the mutual flow of cultural elements between groups
In context
"Cultural exchange has accelerated through music streaming."
Now try it yourself
Give one positive example of cultural exchange from the last decade.
Mainstream
the dominant cultural current; widely accepted
In context
"K-pop has gone mainstream in Europe in just five years."
Now try it yourself
Name something that was niche ten years ago and is now mainstream.
Cultural appropriation
adopting elements of a culture without understanding or credit
In context
"It's hard to draw the line between cultural exchange and cultural appropriation."
Now try it yourself
Discuss one example you've seen — or where you think the line was crossed.
Diversity
the presence of many different kinds of people / things
In context
"Linguistic diversity is shrinking even as cultural exchange grows."
Now try it yourself
Describe one form of diversity you value where you live.
The global village
the metaphor that the world feels smaller because of media and tech
In context
"We live in a global village now — news travels instantly."
Now try it yourself
Argue for OR against the 'global village' metaphor as accurate today.
Pick at least three words from above and use each one in a sentence about your real life. Say each one aloud before you write.
Ask your teacher (or a partner) a question that uses one of today's words. They reply using a different word.
Rank today's words from most to least useful for you this week. Defend your top choice.
Finish: "Honestly, I'd say…" using one of today's words.
Tip: aim to reuse at least two of these words later in the Speaking and Writing tasks.
Tap an item on the left, then tap its match on the right.
Pronunciation · Section 4
3–4 minStress on the hedge + connected speech in 'tend to'
Hedges carry small but real stress — they signal 'this is a generalisation'. 'People TEND tə be CAUtious' (stress on TEND). 'On the WHOLE,↘ working HOURS have come DOWN.' In connected speech, 'tend to' becomes /tendtə/ (almost 'tend-tuh'). Cultural noun phrases stress the SECOND word: 'cultural exCHANGE', 'local iDENtity', 'global VILlage'. Don't stress 'all' or 'always' — if you find yourself doing so, you're probably stereotyping.
- • BRITish PEOple TEND tə apOLogise EVen when they're NOT at FAULT
- • ON the WHOLE,↘ working HOURS have COME DOWN
- • There's a TENdency for CIties to beCOME more SIMilar
- • BROADly SPEAKing, DIets are GLOBalising
Reading · Section 5
8–10 minThe same coffee shop in 47 cities
Walk into a third-wave coffee shop in Berlin, Melbourne, Mexico City, Cape Town or Seoul, and the experience tends to be uncannily similar. The same Edison bulbs. The same exposed brick. The same plant. The same flat white. The same tattooed barista talking about the bean's origin in the same vocabulary. Globalisation is often described in terms of products crossing borders, but the more interesting story is the homogenisation of taste — a global mainstream culture that runs in parallel with whatever local identity each city is also trying to preserve.
This isn't automatically a bad thing. The same forces that produce the identical coffee shop have also given a young person in a small town access to films, music, books and ideas that were previously locked behind elite institutions. Cultural exchange used to be a luxury of the rich; for the first time in history, it's mostly free. Broadly speaking, that's an enormous democratising win.
But there's a flatter side. Languages are dying at a rate of one every two weeks. City centres look increasingly interchangeable. The same dozen brands occupy retail space from Dubai to Dublin. And the line between cultural exchange (which most people celebrate) and cultural appropriation (which is contested) has become harder to draw — partly because the speed of exchange has overtaken the speed of mutual understanding.
The honest position is that globalisation, on the whole, has done both — given billions of people more cultural choice while shrinking the variety those choices are drawn from. The careful generalisation is also the true one: people tend to over-celebrate or over-criticise globalisation depending on which side of it they're sitting on. The interesting question is no longer whether to globalise — that ship has sailed — but how to preserve the local diversity that makes the global feel like anything at all.
Question 1.What does the text say cultural exchange used to be, before globalisation made it widely accessible?
Question 2.How often does the text say a language is dying?
Question 3.Why does the author describe the identical coffee shops across five continents as 'uncanny'?
Question 4.What does the author mean when they say 'that ship has sailed' about globalisation?
Q1.The text claims that one language dies every two weeks.
Q2.The text says cultural exchange used to be free for everyone.
Listening · Section 6
8–10 minTwo friends comparing how their cities have changed
Listening audio
Tap play to listen. Replay as many times as you need.
Show transcript
Maya:I went back to my hometown last summer for the first time in eight years, and it was uncanny — the centre looked like every other mid-sized European city now. Same coffee chains, same vintage shops, same craft beer place.
Liam:Yeah, there's a real homogenisation of city centres. Broadly speaking, you can drop someone into any gentrified neighbourhood in Europe and they'd struggle to tell which country they're in.
Maya:But the older people I spoke to seemed to see it as a good thing — for them it's evidence that the town finally made it. Local identity for them was about being left behind.
Liam:That's interesting. There's a tendency for the people who lament the loss of local identity to be people who already have plenty of cultural options elsewhere. If your only choices were the local pub or nothing, the third-wave coffee shop feels like inclusion, not invasion.
Maya:Exactly. And on the whole, the kids in the town have more cultural exchange now than my generation ever had. A teenager in my hometown listens to Korean music, watches Spanish drama, codes in English.
Liam:Which is genuinely a good thing — that kind of access used to be a privilege of the rich.
Maya:Right. But there's a cost. The local dialect has basically died out under thirty. The local recipes — gone, except in two restaurants run by women in their seventies. There's diversity gained at the global level and diversity lost at the local level.
Liam:Net loss or net gain?
Maya:Honestly? For the people IN the town, probably net gain. For the world as a sum of distinct cultures, probably net loss. Both can be true.
Liam:That's the careful answer. The cheap answer is 'globalisation is great' or 'globalisation is killing us'. Neither is true; both are partly true.
Maya:And the thing I keep coming back to is that the line between cultural exchange and cultural appropriation has become impossible to draw at the speed we're moving.
Liam:We tend to want to settle it as a clear principle, and there isn't one. Each case is its own argument.
Maya:Which is exhausting, but probably the only honest answer.
Question 1.Which two cultural losses does Maya specifically mention in her hometown?
Question 2.What does Liam call 'the cheap answer' on globalisation?
Question 3.Why does Liam say people who lament local identity loss often 'have plenty of cultural options elsewhere'?
Question 4.What does Maya's 'both can be true' conclusion suggest about her view of globalisation?
Exam tip · Section 7
5 minSpeaking — Cambridge B2 First Part 4 / IELTS Part 3 (society & culture discussion)
Task
Speak for 90 seconds on 'Is globalisation more of a positive or negative force on local cultures?' Use AT LEAST 5 careful-generalisation phrases (tend to / on the whole / broadly speaking / for the most part / there's a tendency for), 4 lesson vocabulary items, and avoid 'all', 'always', 'every'.
Strategy
Society topics tempt learners into stereotypes. Examiners penalise these. (1) Always hedge cultural claims — 'tend to' rescues 90% of sentences that would otherwise stereotype. (2) Acknowledge the complexity — 'both can be true' / 'on balance' / 'a mixed picture'. (3) Use specific examples (a city, a dish, a habit) rather than 'people in country X'. (4) Distinguish levels — what's true for INDIVIDUALS may not be true for CULTURES AS WHOLES. (5) Conclude with a 'careful answer' frame: 'The honest position is…' / 'On balance, I'd say…'.
Example
On balance, I'd say globalisation has done both, and the honest answer requires holding both at once. On the whole, it's given billions of people access to cultural choices that used to be a privilege of the rich — a teenager in my parents' hometown listens to Korean music and watches Spanish drama in a way my generation simply couldn't. That's a real democratising win. Broadly speaking, though, it's also produced a homogenisation of city centres — the same coffee shop, the same brands, the same look from Dubai to Dublin. And there's a tendency for local diversity (dialects, recipes, ways of being together) to shrink as global mainstream culture expands. For the most part, the people who lament this most are the ones with plenty of cultural options elsewhere — local identity reads differently when your alternative was a single local pub. The careful answer is that net gain at the individual level can coexist with net loss at the level of the world as a sum of distinct cultures. Both can be true.
Practice · Section 8
8–10 minFill in the blank
Question 1.British people ____ to apologise even when not at fault.
Question 2.____ the whole, working hours have come down.
Question 3.____ speaking, urban diets have globalised faster than rural ones.
Question 4.There's a ____ for cities to become more similar to each other.
Question 5.____ the most part, English has become the default working language.
There isn't one "right" answer — write a natural version, then compare with the model.
Q1.Generalise carefully about a cultural pattern in your country.
Q2.Describe a homogenising trend with a hedge.
Q3.Acknowledge mixed effects of globalisation.
Q4.Counter a stereotype with a careful version.
Writing · Section 9
5 minPut it in writing
Your task
Write a 150–180 word opinion piece on 'How has globalisation changed life in your country?' Use AT LEAST 5 careful-generalisation phrases, 5 lesson vocabulary items, and at least one explicit acknowledgement of complexity ('both can be true' / 'on balance' / 'a mixed picture'). Avoid 'all' / 'always' / 'every' for cultural claims.
Your answer
Your work saves automatically0 words
Show model answer
Globalisation has, on the whole, transformed my country in two opposite directions at once — and both have to be acknowledged. On the positive side, broadly speaking, young people now have a cultural diet that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. There's a tendency for teenagers to engage with Korean music, Latin American TV and English-language internet culture as if those things were local. For the most part, this kind of cultural exchange used to be a privilege of the rich — for the first time, it's mostly free. On the other side, however, the homogenisation has been real. Local dialects are weakening; mid-sized city centres look interchangeable; the same dozen international brands dominate retail. There's a tendency for the very distinctive things — recipes, festivals, ways of speaking — to survive only when actively defended. On balance, I'd say it's a mixed picture: enormous gains in individual access, real losses in the world's overall cultural diversity. Both can be true. The interesting question is no longer whether to globalise, but how to keep the local alive while we do.
Speaking · Section 10
10–15 minMake it a real conversation
Role-play 'Cultural comparison without stereotypes'. You and your partner compare two cultures you know (your own and one other) on three dimensions: communication style, sense of time, attitude to work. Use 5 careful-generalisation phrases, 5 lesson vocabulary items, and zero 'all/always/every' for cultural claims. Discuss complexity, not caricature.
Useful phrases
- • X people tend to…
- • On the whole, …
- • Broadly speaking, …
- • There's a tendency for…
- • Both can be true — it's a mixed picture.
Speaking reflection & notes
Your work saves automatically0 words
- AItalians are always late, aren't they?
- B_______________
- AHas globalisation killed local culture?
- B_______________
- AWhat's the trend in city centres?
- B_______________
Homework · Section 11
Take-homeTake it home
Find an article making a sweeping cultural claim. Rewrite 5 sentences with appropriate hedges.
Compare two countries you know on three dimensions in a 2-minute spoken piece. Use 5 hedges.
Listen to a 10-minute podcast about a country other than your own. Note 5 generalisations and check whether they're hedged.
Homework notes
Your work saves automatically0 words
Recap · Section 12
2–3 minWhat you've learned
- Don't say 'all', 'always', 'every' for cultural claims.
- Use 'tend to', 'on the whole', 'broadly speaking', 'for the most part', 'there's a tendency for'.
- Globalisation: democratising at individual level; homogenising at collective level. Both can be true.
- Hedges are markers of careful thinking, not weakness.
- Stress the hedge ('TEND to', 'on the WHOLE') — it tells the listener you're describing a pattern, not a law.