On page 116 Agar is joking about how no one seems to know what culture is, and that everybody uses the word "culture" without defining it. He said that there could be two participants in a conversation who are from very different national and linguistic traditions, and they might be able to communicate better than two people who are from similar national and linguistic backgrounds. If this is true, then what is the real connection between language and culture? Should language be used to define a culture, or should culture be used to define a language? This goes back to something we talked about in class the other day. If, for example, two people having a conversation spoke the same language but had different cultural background, would it be easier or harder for them to communicate than two people who were speaking different languages but had the same cultural background?
Comments (2)
I donā??t think we can really find an answer to this question. In my opinion, language makes up so much of the culture that it is hard to separate them, and what makes this question even trickier is that we are talking about people with the same cultural background who speak different languages. The problem is that so much of our culture is transmitted via speech and text. How can the same heritage be passed down through generations, how can we grow up watching the same TV shows, reading the same classics, essentially being exposed to the same world when we do not speak the same language? While we can look at how easily Americans communicate with people from England or Australia, I do not see how we could find two people of different languages who really share the same cultural heritage.
Posted by Stacy Shaffer | April 3, 2008 2:01 PM
Posted on April 3, 2008 14:01
Wendy, you pose a very interesting question here. I think based strictly on a communication basis that two people who speak the same language would connect better than two who share a similar culture. However, if we are considering the ability of two people to relate to one another on a deeper level than culture would trump language. For example, if I were to be confronted by a person who grew up in a large city and spoke English, I would be able to talk to them about superficial things but I would never be able to have an in depth conversation about my life. However, if I ran into someone who grew up with me in my hometown and learned to speak a foreign language fluently; I think that although I would not be able to talk to them, it would be possible to reminisce about our childhood together through some form of communication. Iā??m not sure this directly addresses the question but it is the best I can do to express how I feel. It just does not seem possible for two people with entirely different backgrounds to really connect, regardless of what language they might speak.
Posted by Pete Obourn | April 4, 2008 12:03 PM
Posted on April 4, 2008 12:03