Free Essay

Culture Influenced by Language

In:

Submitted By poorbones
Words 338
Pages 2
Language influences Culture in more ways than one. Language allows us to share perspectives, allows us to plan for the future, and allows us to make goals. By allowing us to do these things, we can redirect our behaviors to fit our cultural needs.

We all have our personal points of views, which stem from the ways we were raised and the culture in which we were brought up. At birth we were nothing, unable to speak, untrained beings at the beginning of the world. As our textbook Essentials Of Sociology, 9th Edition, by James M. Henslin states on page 43, "Our words are the embodiment of our experiences, distilled into a readily exchangeable form, one that is mutually understandable to people who have learned that language." Without language, culture could not be formed as we could not present to each other our thoughts and ideas.

Language also plays an important role in our future. Not just focusing on the past and the way our culture developed, but the times to come are dependent on our communication. "Without language, how could you ever plan future events?" (Stated in Essentials Of Sociology, 9th Edition, by James M. Henslin, again on page 43) We could convey messages, but agreement and changes in plans would be difficult to communicate without language.

Goals and goal-directed behaviors can also be influenced by language. With language, we can also give a purpose for our plans rather than simply communicating the basics. Why are we striving for _____? This question is easily expressed with language. Again, as stated ( Essentials Of Sociology, 9th Edition, by James M. Henslin on page 43) "Only because of language can you participate in a general yet complex event... or attend college classes."

In conclusion, language is an important factor in culture because not only does it dictate the past, but also communicates with the present and the future. Different cultures have different languages, however, it is simply Language that creates the ability to communicate ideas, perspectives and plans.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Difference Between Indian and Spanish Culture

...Indian and Spanish Culture According to Samovar and Porter (1994) “Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.” (Stanford.edu, n.d.). Our culture defines who you are as a person; it contours ones judgment to a certain approach. In other words, it is our identity. Every nation has its own set of morals and is defined by its own distinct cultures; which gives rise to cultural differences between each and every country in this world. In this vast world, no two cultures are exactly identical. Taking into account India and Spain, needless to mention, both the cultures have an enormous amount of differences between them. Spain being a part of Europe is largely influenced by the European culture furthermore the Rome culture; on the other hand India’s culture is more multifaceted and has been influenced by colonialism over the past century- both collaterally and vernacularly (Sen Amartya, 2005). India is a home to a variety of different cultures; it is known to be the most diverse country in the world in every aspect. Looking into a major aspect of any culture that has existed, religion plays a major role in the upbringing. It influences the framework of a particular culture and individual human...

Words: 1461 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Bdiofkv

...Human Geography ap FRQ The differences between folk culture and popular culture are many things. Folk culture is usually within a single ethnicity, is in rural societies, and is within a smaller population. Popular culture on the other hand, is usually in urban societies and consists of many ethnic backgrounds over a large population. Folk culture preserves the past of the rural communities so it makes sure not to change to much while popular culture changes frequently. The Amish is a group that has resisted popular culture to preserve their more traditional way of life. They do this through religious faith and peer pressure. Globalization has not only affected popular culture but has also affected the way it spreads. It has made popular have the ability to spread a lot easier. It has made it that folk culture and restrictive governments having a hard time preventing people from being influenced by the popular culture. The lack of isolation has greatly influenced the English language. Many countries have invaded, had a conflict, or had interaction with England and greatly influenced the language. Also when English first landed in North America, settlers were from a diversity of social classes and when they came back, the language was dispersed widely throughout England. There are many differences between British and American English. The three main differences are pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling. The main reason for these differences arose was due to the British having...

Words: 433 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

American Culture Paper

...American Culture: A Medley of Food, Language, and Religion Bre McCauley COM/156 June 30, 2013 Sheri Jens American Culture: A Medley of Food, Language, and Religion I believe it was Marcus Garvey who said, and I quote, “a people without the knowledge of their past history, is like a tree with no roots.” You have to know where it is you came from, befriend that knowledge, and use what you know to move forward, to progress throughout life and make history based on your heritage. How many of us embrace our history? Never mind the pigmentation of our skin, or our style of dress, nor the way we wear our hair; keep in mind that being an American means that we are all influenced if not molded, by several other races who speak life into the way we communicate, the foods we eat, our interest in the arts, and even our beliefs of a higher power. As a child we are taught a variety of motor skills. The skills may include, but are not limited to, using our hands, crawling, walking, and of course speech. We are expected to mimic the sounds we hear from our moms, dads, siblings, teachers, and the world around us in order to communicate everything we see, hear and feel to whomever will listen. The power of language and communication is beyond words, in fact without language, how could we communicate? What is the value of communication without language? Well, according to martinfrost.ws “there are four major regional dialects ( A particular form of language that is peculiar to...

Words: 1511 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Vchnxn

...Canada's culture draws influences from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and policies that promote multiculturalism are constitutionally protected. In Quebec, cultural identity is strong, and many French-speaking commentators speak of a culture of Quebec that is distinct from English Canadian culture. However, as a whole, Canada is in theory a cultural mosaic – a collection of several regional, aboriginal, and ethnic subcultures. Government policies such as publicly funded health care, higher taxation to redistribute wealth, the outlawing of capital punishment, strong efforts to eliminate poverty, strict gun control, and the legalization of same-sex marriage are further social indicators of Canada's political and cultural values. Louisiana's bilingual state welcome sign, recognizing its French heritage. Louisiana has a unique linguistic culture, owing to its French and Spanish heritage. According to the census, among people five years old and older 90.8% of Louisiana residents speak only English (99% total speak English) and 4.7% speak French at home (7% total speak French). Other minority languages are Spanish, which is spoken by 2.5% of the population; Vietnamese, by 0.6%; and German, by 0.2%. . There are two unique dialects of the French language: Cajun French and Creole French. For the Creole language, there is Louisiana Creole French. There are also two unique dialects of the English language: Cajun English, a French-influenced variety of English, and what...

Words: 270 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Importance of Culture

...IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE IN AN ORGANIZATION In any organization, what each individual brings into the work environment in more ways than just their work is of great importance. A new member of staff coming into an organization will come with his/her own past experiences, personality and social habits that could affect the work environment positively or even negatively. And therefore it is very important for any administrator to select the right kind of employee who not only fits the job, but who would also fit in with the work place culture of that particular organization. What Is Culture? Culture is the environment which the organization creates for itself and its employees. It can be likened to a human’s personality which is made up of values, beliefs and behaviours shared by a set of individuals. Culture is however greatly influenced by the founders, directors, CEO’s and managerial staff as they play an important role in decision making as well as strategic planning in an organization. Not only is it greatly influenced by the managers but also by the ones employed into the organization. There are many types of cultures that can be experienced in a working environment, and how the senior staff members balance this could prove to be of vital importance to the organization. Many classifications with regards to types of culture have been made, some of these that you may stumble upon within a working environment include: 1. Eastern Culture Eastern culture is heavily...

Words: 1007 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Europe Language: Russian

...Europe Language: Russian Mitchell Brownie AIU Abstract The Russian language is one of the many languages that have taken root in the European continent. The foundation of the USSR, where Russian was used as a means of international communication made it possible to be understood on the whole territory of former socialist countries with a population over 250 million people. The Russian language helps in scientific, economical, and cultural communication, creating new interest and importance in its study. Russian is taught in more than 100 countries of the world. The government of Russia takes great care in popularizing the Russian language. Latin is included from the many varieties of languages and well known to the continent as the most popular language in the EU which is discussed later on in this essay. The history of a language is nothing less than the history of a culture. Although we cannot use Latin today as extensively as in past centuries, it still helps us understand better meaning of legal concepts and use the terminology adequately. Europe Language: Russian The Russian language is one of the many languages that exist in the European economy that has influenced many of the EU citizens to speak such language that has originated since the 14th century ancestors of the modern Russians. The ancestors liked to call themselves ruskiye spoken dialects of the old East Slavic language, related to the dialects of other East Slavs. During the 14th century this spoken...

Words: 872 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Pest Analysis of Romania

...elements of Culture in Romania Geography —Romania is located in Central Europe, bordering the Black Sea, the neighbors are Bulgaria, Ukraine and Hungary. The Danube is the second longest river after Volga in Europe, it originates in Black Forest in Germany, and flows through 9 European countries: Germany (7.5%), Austria (10.3%), Slovakia (5.8%), Hungary (11.7%), Croatia (4.5%), Serbia (10.3%), Bulgaria (5.2%), Moldova (1.6%), Ukraine (3.8%) and Romania (28.9%). —Conclusion: Romania is a Central European country, and has close connection with neighbors (both Western and Eastern European countries). Ethnic Group —About ethnic group in Romania, the main group is Romanian, which is 89.5% of whole population in Romania. The second one is Hungarian which is 6.6%, Roma is the third one that is 2.5%, the next two groups are German and Russian which are 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. There are some other minorities that is 0.4%. —Conclusion: According to information of ethnic group in Romania, this obviously is a diversified country that includes various minorities. Language —About 89% of the people are ethnic Romanians, a group that-in contrast to its Slovakian or Hungarian neighbors-traces itself to Latin-speaking Romans, who in the second and third centuries A.D. conquered and settled among the ancient Dacians, a Thracian people. As a result, the Romanian language, although comtaining elements of Slovakia, Turkish and other languages, is a Romance language related to French...

Words: 1610 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Child of the Americas

...about her heritage, as she came from a mixture of various cultures. She also expresses her identity as an American.  This poem is truly about cultural diversity and the effort to determine the writer’s ethnicity.  The poem is interesting and intriguing and leaves the readers pondering over their own ethnic identity. The author is saying that; Yes I maybe one race but all races live within me and around me. In this paper, I will be identifying figurative language, as well as an example of symbolism and imagery that I found interesting. One might find confusion with trying to determine what cultural background Morales should associate herself with. She is a product of many ethnicities passed down her family lineage and that of the United States of America, where she has grown up. She has the opportunity to be any ethnicity and culture that she wants; Spanish, Jewish or American. She can speak Spanish or English or even mix the two languages. (Morales, 1986). “I speak English with passion: it’s the tongue of my consciousness, a flashing knife blade of crystal, my tool, my craft.” (Morales, 1986) Morales uses figurative language in the form of a metaphor. She relates her spoken language to that of a crystal bladed knife. Crystals are one of the most sought after rare materials and are very valuable. “…born into this continent at a crossroads” (Morales, 1986), is the symbolism that provides an image of where each culture meets. Morales was created right in the middle, making her...

Words: 637 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

In What Ways Has Australian Culture Become Americanised Essay

...In what ways has Australian culture become Americanised and what are the different influences? Today’s Australian culture has been slowly over the last few decades become more and more Americanised in its ways. Australian culture has been influenced repeatedly by the American culture, which has seeped its way into Australia as the world has become smaller because of advantages in technology. Australia has been influenced greatly by the Media, language and sport, which America offers to people in Australia. The three main areas of media in Australia are literature music and television. All three of these areas have slowly been Americanised since after World War Two ended. With travel becoming more common and easier during the 20th century...

Words: 839 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Relevance of Rizal to Contemporary Nationalism

...education, our freedom, promoting peace and equality, being proud of our filipino heritage, and many more. Although, while I was growing up, he was never one of my idols, or someone i really looked up to. I never really felt Rizal’s importance and presence in our culture. In fact, if not for this paper, the importance of Jose Rizal would have never crossed my mind. Dr. Jose Rizal was nothing more than another lesson to learn about in History to me. I knew he was many things, and contributed a lot of things to the country but all of these didn’t really mean that much to me. The Relevance of Rizal today, is something I have yet to discover in writing this paper. Growing up, I was in an environment highly influenced by the western culture. The school I was in, in my grade school years was a school where not many of the kids knew how to speak straight tagalog. We struggled with our Filipino classes and this resulted to really easy Filipino lessons because the teachers knew we were not very good at it. Looking back, I realize that the lessons we had in my grade school were extremely easy, compared to the ones they would have in other schools. We barely used Tagalog or Filipino at home. English was the first language taught to the children in our family and Filipino was only learned in school. Filipino was used when speaking to our helpers and the drivers, and those who we knew could not speak English fluently. As a child I had no idea what nationalism was and did not experience...

Words: 650 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

History of Malaysian Art

...ethnics as well as migrants and colonial settlers that comes from Portugal, British and Japan afterwards all of these factors contributed to the development of arts in Malaysia. Malaysian arts also have been influenced by the Hindus and Islam in architecture design, music, language and literaturer. We can see the Hindus influential mostly in the classic literaturer for instance Hikayat Jaya Lengkara and Hikayat Indera Bangsawan while Islam has influenced Malaysian architecture design, music and paint such as Sultan Abdul Samad building has Islamic style design like floral and geometrical shapes furthermore to spread Islam reformation Arabian people encouraged local people to sing songs that shows praisal and worship the almighty Allah and His messenger Muhammad. Malaysian artists have different styles in paintings and they adopted artistic techniques from British, Chinese and Middle East creativity. Generally Malaysian arts have been influenced by the exterior factors and help to build great and diverse Malaysian arts. The Music of Malaysia Music and dance are almost inseparable in the Malaysian culture. Where there is one, the other is not far behind. True to Malaysia's heritage, dances vary widely and are, if not imports direct from the source nation, heavily influenced by one or more of Malaysia's cultural components. Much of Malaysian music and dance has evolved from more basic needs into the mesmerizing, complex art forms they are today. Traditional Malay music and performing...

Words: 1477 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Annie Dillard Analysis

...Consciousness is the way someone interprets what they see. Culture influences everyone’s perception on what goes on in their life. Thus, making it that anyone who has their own opinion on a certain belief, their choices that they make will always be influenced by their culture and language. We see it in everyday life, how different types of people interpret their lives and the lives of others. It all depends on how this selected person looks at it. In the essay by Annie Dillard, this shows a great example of how people perceived things throughout her childhood. For example, during Dillard had a game that she had played while she was a child involving her hiding pennies inside sidewalks. Then during this game, she would draw large arrows in...

Words: 561 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

America Doesn't Speak Americano

...ideals through language. Using Kwame Appiah’s cosmopolitanism as a guideline using conversation, America can be one step closer to the country it should be. The evolution of language, specifically English shown by Leslie Savan is the main reason why the world, never mind a country, can never really have one language. The English language is apparently the most spoken language in America, but it simply does not account for all speakers. What is recognized as the ‘normal’ dialect of English, the typical Mid-Western accent cannot be applied across the States so easily; as specific regions and states have developed their own set of culture and dialect. “This means that speakers of a ‘standard’ language (whatever the language) ‘have favorable attitudes toward the lower-class, nonstandard speech forms’” is an explanation ‘covert prestige’ Savan’s What’s Black, Then White, and Said All Over? Due to ‘covert prestige’ there will always be different forms of speech within all demographics but primarily the working class, thus forming multiple dialects of English. These different dialects are possibly too thick that different accents within the same country are mutually incommunicable; which is very true and proves that English language itself dialect-wise is already like several languages. Declaring English as an official language would need to follow up with a declaration of an official dialect; this in itself is an insane task. The American dialect of English is influenced by many colonizing...

Words: 1413 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Cultural Presentation Paper: Turkey

...Turkey The Republic of Turkey is a country filled with rich culture and amazing history. This paper will discuss the origins of Turkey and the most significant points in that region’s history. Then, it will focus on two types of games that the inhabitants of Turkey are constantly exposed to, and one type of play. Afterwards, it will take a look at what influences Turkey has made in other nearby cultures and countries. Also the impact and influence the history of Turkey has had in that region. Finally it will end with how visible the influences are, and briefly discuss all of its religious influences. The region that Turkey now occupies has very large roots in history, even though the current establishment of Turkey is very young. Before the region was named the Republic of Turkey, the area was called Anatolia. Anatolia has a history of civilization that dates as far back as 10,000 years. In centuries past, this region had been inhabited by the indigenous Hattis and Hurrians. At around 2300 BC the Indo-European Hitties arrived at Anatolia slowly reigning over the Hatties and Hurrians. The Hitties established the first empire in the region and remained settled for multiple centuries. The empire collapsed in 1200 BC and Anatolia was then settled by an Indo-European group known as the Phrygians and the Lydians. The Phrygians settled in Western and Central Anatolia while the Lydians lived in the Eastern region. In the 6th century BC, bothe the Phrygians and Lydians were invaded...

Words: 1763 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Antrhopology

...research site - Conduct research in local language - May develop close ties with local people Know ethnology and ethnography Ethnography may generalize from a limited time experience or contact with a small number of people Ethnographer cannot see or experience everything or every perspective - Subjectivity of data Ethnography is frequently rife with ethical dilemma LANGUAGE - is a human biological adaption - We are hardwired to acquire language, but it can only be activated through society - There may be basic principle and rules which are foundation of all languages (Chomsky – “universal grammar”) - Words are SYMBOLS – something that stands for something else - Since the relationship between sound and meaning is symbolic: humans can combine worlds and sounds into new, meaningful utterances that have never been heard before - Symbols enable humans to transmit and store information (including abstract concepts) - This allows us to create and transmit culture What is Boroditsky’s main point in “How languages shape thought?” - Anthropologists have long been interested in the relationship between language and culture - Does language merely label or describe Sapir-whorf hypothesis - The claim that the culture and thought patterns of people are strongly influenced by the language they speak - Perception and understandings of time, space and matter are conditioned by the structure of a language - Nell – people are adapted through language is the main point Whorf: - Hopi v...

Words: 968 - Pages: 4