Multiculturalism is the belief that having contact, or knowledge or experience with many cultures is preferable over having contact or knowledge or experience with merely one culture. Further, a multicultural world is one in which having, or having the opportunity to have, contact or knowledge or experience with more than one culture is important.

Five Practical Rules for Living Comfortably in a Multicultural World

1. Accept that different does not mean wrong.
This is the most important thing to learning about other cultures. You must approach is with an open mind. If you begin to learn about a culture already having stereotypes and an attitude towards it, it will color everything you learn.

2. Spend some time living in another culture.
The very best way to gain an understanding of something is to experience it. A child does not actually believe that the stove is hot until he has touched, and experienced, it for himself, then he really knows that it is hot. When you live in another culture, you experience it, it ceases to be "academic," and then you can really know it.

3. Learn a second language.
Learning a second langage helps you to understand another culture, language itself tells a lot about the people who use it. Also, if you are living in another culture, it will be much easier to understand what is going on if you can speak the language.

4. Read books about other cultures.
If you do not have the opportunity to experience another culutre first hand, the next best thing is to read the accounts of other who have had the opportunity. You can read books by the people of your own culture who have written about another culture, or you can read books by other people from another culture who have written about their own, both are very informative.

5. Know your own culture.
This is also very important. If you do not know about your own culture, you will have nothing to compare other cultures to. Also, when you are learning about other cultures, you will learn a great deal about your own culture in the process.