It is often said "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." Do you think people should adapt and accept...

adapting to the culture of the host country and learning it without knowing the local language?

Many people believe that "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" means that visitors should respect and integrate into the mores of host nations. While I agree with this view, I partly disagree with the opinion that learning the language is unnecessary to understand the culture.

It is clear that every country has its own specific traditions and customs that new arrivals should appreciate and follow. First, integration helps travelers avoid some embarrassing misbehaviors as well as increases sentiments of local hospitality. For instance, tipping is not customary in Japan. In fact, it might be considered rude and insulting in some situations. This case is similar to hands-waving in Greek and pigeons feeding in Singapore. Another reason why they should be well equipped with cultural knowledge is to broaden their horizons and global mindset, which paves the way for further experiences.

On the other hand, visitors can simply comprehend the essence of a culture to a certain limit without learning its dialect. Meanwhile, they can obtain an in-depth knowledge of that civilization if they have a solid language understanding. This is because cultural features have been accumulated and evolved as time goes by, it is implausible to decipher fully without knowing the language to either communicate with habitants or search for more detailed information. Hence, language is the key to any perception.

All things considered, while I hold a belief that visitors should have a sense of appreciation and respectability towards the culture of where they are visiting, a basic understanding of the language is crucial for any cultural study.

The reference to "When in Rome..." was only a reference point for the writer. the cliche need not be mentioned in the actual discussion because it was unnecessary. Rather, the simple restatement of the topic about people adapting to the culture as a tourist should have been made, with 2 direct question response presentations. The response to the second question is in error because the writer based his response on an extent presentation when such an option was not given in the guide question. So there are inaccuracies in the presentation that could adversely affect the preliminary score of the opening statement.

The writer improperly referenced "Greece" the country as "Greek" who are the native born citizens of Greece. That specific paragraph was also under served by the sudden introduction of a second reason, which was not properly developed in terms of discussion when compared to the previous reason in the same paragraph.

The reasoning as to language learning should have started with the second reason based on the usefulness of learning the language of the country first. The paragraph did not require a compare and contrast discussion since it was neither required by the original question and, did not really help establish the correct discussion point as indicated by the prompt.

"hands-waving in Greek..." you mean hand-waving since you use only one hand while waving. Also better to use either Greek culture or Greece.