South Asian Journal of Social Studies and Economics

Immersive learning technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR), create opportunities for intercultural learning in vocational education, yet their potential to support intercultural competence cannot be attributed to presence or participation alone. This theory-building conceptual study examines how learners interpret culturally embedded meanings encountered in immersive environments and how such interpretations may inform intercultural engagement. Through a purposive, non-systematic synthesis, the study selects and compares experiential learning theory, situated learning theory, cultural translation perspectives, and intercultural competence frameworks. The resulting framework positions cultural translation as a learner-level process comprising interpretation, negotiation, and reconstruction of cultural meanings. Immersive learning supplies experiential exposure, whereas industry–education integration acts as a contextual condition that may strengthen the authenticity of tasks, practitioner involvement, and opportunities for professional communication. Six conditional propositions are derived from the four perspectives, with their premises, boundary conditions, alternative explanations, and potential directions for empirical testing specified. Ceramic heritage education in Jingdezhen, China, serves as a hypothetical contextual illustration of the framework rather than an empirical case study. The analysis suggests that cultural exposure does not necessarily generate intercultural understanding without reflection, dialogue, and interpretive support. The framework offers a conceptual explanation for how immersive experiences might contribute to intercultural competence while acknowledging that its constructs, pathways, and practical implications remain untested. Future research should operationalise cultural translation and examine the proposed relationships across vocational settings.