Culture and Language

Language and culture go hand in hand. When one is wanting to learn about a culture on a more personal and interactional level, they must learn the language as well. To interact with a culture means to do so while using that specific cultures primary language. In most societies today, a language is seen to point towards a social group. For example, some cultures address elders in a formal way of speech. This compares to how a person would address people of the same age or younger, usually with more slang within the language, which is also seen as an informal way of speech. This example shows that learning a language is not only learning the structural components, but also learning the behavior of the society and the cultural customs. For people who want to study culture must learn all of these customs, but for a child, the years of living with in a culture, the child is then able to informally learn how to use gestures, looks, tone in voice, etc. Thus, while learning these customs of a language, the child is learning how to live and function within that culture. The way in which one thinks about the world is then directly influenced by the language we use and the culture we grow up in. Once cross-cultural interactions take place, the contact between intercultural communication increases and those societies begin to get along and understand different people’s beliefs and backgrounds. Thus showing, language can be the marker of cultural identity, and beliefs. These backgrounds are significant to people, and when wanting to learn about the culture one must learn the language as well as the cultural teaching. Concluding that language is culture and culture is language, and to further understand a culture one must understand and learn the language.

Guessabi,F. (2017). Blurring the Line between Language and Culture. Language Magazine.

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