The intercultural approach is based on the idea that culture is best learned through comparison. Though the focus is on the target culture, the intercultural approach deals with the relations between the learners’ own country and the country/countries where the language is spoken. It may include comparisons between the two and it develops learners’ understanding of both. The aim is to develop learners’ intercultural and communicative competences, which would enable them to function as mediators between the two cultures. The approach has become increasingly recognised since the 1980s. However, Risager (1998: 246) considers this approach inadequate as it is “blind to the actual multicultural