WHY LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ARE INSEPARABLE

Learn a new language, learn a new culture

When you fall in love with a country, what comes first? Language or culture? The answer is, they go hand in hand. A culture is mainly expressed through a language and a language always carries the distinct features of a culture.

I once attempted to learn French. Why? I don’t know. There was actually nothing I particularly liked about France. Thus, I gave up soon. I didn’t have any motivation to learn French because I wasn’t interested in its culture. And, isn’t it true that the desire to learn a language comes naturally when you feel attracted to a certain culture?

You cannot fully understand a culture if you don’t know its language (and vice versa)

If you want to fully understand a culture, you need to learn its language and vice versa. There are a lot of idiomatic expressions and nuances in every language that can hardly be explained or translated into another (not similar) language. An example would be the British English expression “That’s not my cup of tea”. If I translated it literally into another language it wouldn’t make any sense. Shall we try to imagine a conversation between a German person (G) and a native English speaker (E) who doesn’t know that this expression doesn’t exist in German?

G: “Wie findest du dieses Kleid?” (What do you think about this dress?)

E: “Hmm… das ist nicht meine Tasse Tee.” (Uhm… It’s not my cup of tea.)

G: “Tee? Was redest du da?” (Tea? What are you talking about?)

As you can see, both are inseparable. Maybe the German person could have guessed what the English person means if he knew the importance of tea in the English culture. On the other hand, the English person could have known that such an expression is not used in the German language if he knew that tea is not an important part of the German culture.

Related: English Useful Expressions: “That’s not my cup of tea”

 

Of course, traveling for fun without having a deep knowledge about a language or culture is absolutely okay (unless it causes trouble in a foreign country), but if you’re aiming to master a language on a high level, (deeply) connect with natives or live in another country, you should make sure that you don’t neglect studying language or culture.

 

It’s actually almost impossible to learn a language without coming across cultural facts. So, whenever you see a word or an expression that you normally wouldn’t use in your native language, don’t just skip over it. Call yourself into memory that it’s a part of the culture you’re learning about right now, and you will pick up your new language much faster.

What culture are you learning? Please share it with us in the comments below 🙂