Cultural Familiarity

If you are unfamiliar with a culture you suffer a -3 penalty to skills that are modified by Cultural Familiarity

1 or 2 points/culture You are familiar with cultures other than your own, and do not suffer the -3 penalty for unfamiliarity.

This costs 1 point per culture of the same (or very similar) race, or 2 points per alien culture. 

To prevent point-cost inflation, the GM should use broad definitions of culture: East Asian, Muslim, Western, etc. A single nation would have to be very different to merit its own Cultural Familiarity. In fantasy worlds, the GM might wish to have one culture per race; in a futuristic setting, an entire planet or even a galactic empire might have a single, monolithic culture.