meaning in context - "What is the age of marriage in your culture?"

Some time ago, I had an IELTS exam and my examiner asked me:

What is the age of marriage in your culture?

I thought he simply is mentioning the culture that I grow up with so I said:

It varies from person to person in my family, since my cousin has got married when she was 23 but my that got married when he was 26, but overall I can say it is between 20 to 30.

The examiner stopped me and asked again:

That was not my question. I've asked, what is the age of marriage IN YOUR CULTURE (while pointing his finger at me)

I repeat the scenario over and over but it doesn't make any sense to me. Of course I gave him my opinion about the age of marriage, but it is very strange to me.

Is it correct in English to ask that question?

Answer

What is the age of marriage in your culture?

Be careful, the original question does not ask for an opinion — “Of course I gave him my opinion about the age of marriage, but it is very strange to me.”
The IELTS question does not ask how old were your friends or family when they got married. That would be considered a personal question, inappropriate in an exam situation. Remember, the exam is an artificial environment; in real life, people will repeat themselves, explain, or paraphrase until the listener has understood.

As an IELTS candidate, you should ask the examiner to repeat their question if you think you misheard — “I'm sorry, could you repeat that, please?” If you want to be doubly sure, you can also ask:

• Do you mean how old people are when they marry in my country?


• Do you mean the average age people marry in my country?


• Do you mean the minimum legal age for marriage in [Italy, Turkey, etc.]?

Now, whether an IELTS examiner is allowed to reply with a simple "No", or, "Yes, that's what I meant." I don't know, but I do know that these exams are audio recorded, so examiners who do not follow protocol might be reprimanded. You might have to rely on their facial expressions, then again experienced examiners will probably have learnt to keep a deadpan face. If you're not certain, cover all your bases.

Well in my experience, people tend to marry between the ages of 20 and 30, but the youngest age you can marry in my country is sixteen.

Note that the speaker did not parrot the words in the examiner's question, candidates should paraphrase and try to speak as naturally as possible.

In real life, any of the below would have been a simpler and less ambiguous question to answer.

How old can you be to marry in your country?
What is the legal age for marriage in your country?
What is the minimum age for someone to marry in your culture?

The level of difficulty increases as the exam progresses, they are meant to test candidates' coping and comprehension skills as well as their speaking abilities.