Hi,
could you please correct my essay, or at least give me some tips, what to do better next time? It was my first essay which I wrote for TOEFL (it’s a bit longer than it actually should be; I didn’t write it in 30 but in 35 minutes I have to admit - next time I’ll manage the time better, but it was a bit hard at the first time):
Many people visit museums when they travel to new places. Why do you think people visit museums?
Museums are of big importance being institutions of language, history, geography, history and culture in general. Even if people nowadays tend to be not as interested in cultural aspects as generations before have been, it is relevant to ask whether people still visit museums today, especially if they get to a new place they have not been before. I can think of at least three reasons why people visit museums.
The first reason is that visitors, getting to a new place, are interested in informing themselves about this place. This aspect especially refers to historical questions of the place the museum visitor has travelled to. For example when I was in Egypt three years ago, I visited the national museum, located in Cairo, in order to get information about how the state of Egypt was organized about 500, 1000 or even 2000 years ago. However, not only did I visit the museum to learn about Egypt’s history but also about economic aspects, for example the importance of oil in the past as well as in the present. Being of the opinion that intercultural communication, especially based on informing oneself about the history of a place, is very important, I think that this is a main reason for people to visit museums when travelling to new places.
The second reason is that visiting museums means having fun for many visitors. That is because museums can show things such as sculptures or maps which visitors have not seen in their life, yet. Thus, the new place does not only offer them the opportunity to get information about the place itself, as described in the first paragraph, but also to get away from a monotone life with much routine. For myself this aspect was a quite important one as far as my visit of the Egyptian National Museum is concerned. Interested in culture very much, it was fun to see pictures of sculptures or pharaohs I have only read about in books before. Of course this reason is strictly related to your own interested. Nevertheless having fun, relaxing and trying to do something new, is very important when visiting a museum, located in a place you have not been before.
The third reason for people visiting museum when they travel to new places is connected to the first reasons which I would like to summarize with the noun “intercultural communication”. However, whereas the first paragraph deals with history, you should also recognize that you get in contact with many other people of other places when visiting a museum in another place. For example you can talk to people from the country the museum is located in as well as to people who just travel to this place. This seems to be a very important point since natives are not always happy with tourists just getting to their native country in order to go to the beach or to stay in the hotel. By visting a museum, the travellers could show the natives their interest about the natives’ country which will make them happy since they can recognize that having holidays also means getting in contact with natives. So this reason seems to be more important than the one mentioned in the first paragraph with regard to “intercultural communication” since the visitors are not only interested in the history of the country but also in the habitants of the country.
All in all, there are at least three main reasons which you should pay attention to when answering the question why people who travel to a new place often visit museums. Whereas two reasons are related to the communication between cultures, in the first case regarding history and culture in general, in the second case regarding the habitants of the country, there is also the reason that you will enjoy in a museum, if you are interested in culture and meeting new people. Consequently, there are not any reasons which you can relate to every visitor as the visitor himself, especially his own interests, are of big relevance when talking about his reasons to visit a museum in a place he has travelled to.
Thank you very much!
TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture by a professor of Social History (2)
