Language and Culture

What is culture ?

When talking about culture it is a necessity to make use of language and vice versa, this is the main reason for which we can think and say that language is the most precious good human kind possesses, it is the instrument of communication for excellence, and it is the vehicle of culture, language is a system of signs.

The relation between language and culture is like a sheet of paper in which the front of it is the culture and the back of it is the language, they are inseparable from each other, you cannot cut one part without cutting the other, and you cannot make reference of one of them without referring to the other.

Language is a manifestation of culture and culture thereby is the manifestation of language that´s the reason for what when we learn a language we learn the culture of the context in which this language is developed. We learn the culture in the academic process because learning a language teaches you about the culture, and this one teaches you about the language.

So it is right to say that language shapes our way of thinking and that our way of thinking helps others to understand our culture and the environmental characteristics of the society in which we are formed, this is the principal reason for which we are so different and our costumes as well as the linguistic codes differ from one country to another. The reason of this is that our linguistic sources are built over time from their uses in a particular context by a particular group of people in the accomplishment of a particular goal.

If cultures are something we shared in community as well as language it is correct to say also that language and culture are the two essential elements that get to human kind self-expression and differentiate it from animals. And it is because the essence of social life is communication, and it is the vehicle in which we get goals, negotiate means, and re-conceptualize and manage our individual’s identities. We learn the culture by imitation as well as we learn the language when we are children, so culture is a connection of ideas and feelings connected thanks to the language in any society.

As individual each human being belongs to a special group and from it he or she gets particular items that make him or her special; such as language, rituals, clothes, etc. therefore culture is a social product born form human interaction in the achievement of a particular goal. We believe the way in which we see the world is related with the way in which our native language is formed in the culture we were born fact that is done thanks to the use given to the language in the construction of our sociocultural worlds; and the conventionalized communicative activities that allows us to experience it.

Language as a Sociocultural Resource

Culture Shock 

Failure to Communicate

Language is considered a sociocultural resource because language is a product of the culture, and they are directly related, for different reasons:

First, language is the instrument of communication for excellence, and it is the vehicle of culture, language is a system of signs through the one we share data related with different topics of the social sphere. Second, culture is a social product born from human interaction in the achievement of a particular goal and that interaction is materialized thanks to human language. A third reason is that our linguistic sources are built over time from their uses in a particular context by a particular group of people in the accomplishment of a particular goal. for example when we want to communicate a special message, we use a particular group of linguistic signs that are part of the particular group to which we belong. Another reason teaches us that culture is something we shared in community as well as language, so it is right to say also that language and culture are the two essential elements that get to human kind self-expression and differentiate it from animals. And it is because the essence of social life is communication, and it is the vehicle in which we get goals, negotiate means, and re-conceptualize and manage our individual’s identities.

In conclusion language is the medium through which we get culture alive, we communicate with each other, and we get to grow in the different aspects of the human life.