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According to Fatiha Guessabi, culture is a language unto itself.
Beyond itself, language always has meanings and references: the cultural norms of a given social group are reflected in the meanings of a certain language. Interacting with a language entails interacting with its reference culture. Because of their close relationship, we could not comprehend a culture without having direct access to its language.
A specific language can reveal information about a social group’s culture. Thus, learning a language involves more than just mastering its alphabet, grammatical rules, and word order; it also entails knowing the cultural norms and behavior of the community. As a result, language instruction should always make clear references to the culture as a whole, from which the target language is derived.
Since paralanguage is used to convey many of our messages, human communication is a complex process. Due to the cultural specificity of these auxiliary communication tools, communicating with members of different societies or ethnic groups has a risk of misunderstanding if the broader cultural context is overlooked.
Growing up in a certain society teaches us, on the side, how to modify or highlight what we say and do through gestures, glances, small voice or tone adjustments, and other auxiliary communication methods. Over many years, we pick up these culturally particular skills mostly through imitation and observation.
Body language, also known as kinesics—the language of gestures, attitudes, and postures—is the most evident type of paralanguage. But voice inflection and tone can also change the meaning of words.
Culture is language, and language is culture.
Culture and language have a homologous, intricate relationship. Culture and language are intricately entwined; they have developed alongside one another, impacting one another along the way and eventually defining what it is to be human. “Culture, then, began when speech was present, and from that point on, the enrichment of either means the further development of the other,” according to A.L. Krober (1923) in this context.
Cultural expressions are supposed actions of communication within certain speech communities, if culture is a result of human contact. A speech community, or the entire society viewed from the perspective of speaking, is defined as “the totality of the messages we exchange with one another while speaking a given language,” according to Rossi Landi (1973). He goes on to say that all children pick up their language from their cultures, and in the course of doing so, they also pick up their culture and cognitive skills.
Culture communicates through language, and language communicates through culture. Michael Silverstein suggested that culture serves as a medium for connecting different contexts in addition to portraying elements of reality. In other words, communication involves more than just using symbols to “stand for” identities, sentiments, opinions, or events; it also involves bringing these concepts into the present.
The linguistic relativity principle states that the language we use to discuss a subject has a direct impact on our worldview. The language habits of the group are largely unconscious and form the foundation of the real world. There is never a language pair that perfectly captures the same social reality. new cultures inhabit unique worlds, not just the same ones with a new title (Edward Sapir, 1929). As a result, speaking implies assuming a culture, and understanding a culture is akin to understanding a language. Culture and language are analogous mental constructs. Cultural products are worldviews and representations that need to be shared in order to be lived.
The issue arises from cross-cultural encounters, i.e., when the sender and the recipient of the message come from different cultural backgrounds. Intercultural communication is essential for anyone hoping to get along with and comprehend people whose backgrounds and beliefs may differ greatly from their own. Cultural contact is growing.
Language serves as a marker of cultural identity, but it also refers to things outside of itself, particularly when a speaker utilizes it to clarify their objectives. A specific language can reveal information about a social group’s culture. Because language and cultural learning are interdependent, we can assume that language learning is cultural learning and that language teaching is cultural teaching.
A group of people’s shared attitudes, beliefs, behavioral norms, fundamental presumptions, and values are collectively referred to as their culture. These shared elements impact each individual’s conduct and how they interpret the actions of others. Furthermore, additional occurrences are expressed and embodied through language. It conveys the ideas, values, and views that people who have been socialized into a particular society share. Proper names that represent those objects demonstrate that language also refers to things that are specific to a given culture. Byran proposed that in British English, “a loaf of bread” conjures up a particular culture of things unless deliberate efforts are taken to remove that reference and replace it with a new one. Thus, we can draw the conclusion that language is a component of culture, that it allows us to communicate cultural values and views, and that the particular applications of a word are unique to a language and its cultural context.
In actuality, teaching languages inherently entails teaching languages and cultures. “Culture learning is actually a key factor in being able to use and master a foreign language system,” claims Buttjest. “Knowledge of other countries and their cultures is as important as proficiency in their languages for effective international cooperation, and such knowledge is dependent on foreign language teaching,” according to the Bellagio Declaration of the European Cultural Foundation and the International Council for Educational Development.
Thus, learning a language also involves studying the customs and behavior of a particular civilization. Language is a byproduct of a society’s beliefs and practices. The degree to which a language speaker is proficient in a foreign language depends on how well-versed in that language’s culture (Taylor, 1979). It is also feasible to think about teaching culture through learners’ native tongues, which can be applied in a particular way to interpret the target culture (Ager).
In summary, immersion teaching expedites the acquisition of cultural knowledge: “…the integration of language and culture learning by using the language as medium for the continuing socialization of students is a process which is intended to develop student’s cultural competence from its existing stage, by changing it into intercultural competence” (Fengping Gao). This is in contrast to the imitation and replication of the socialization of native-speaker teachers.