Surrounded by bilingual and multilingual people as I am on my Intercultural Communication course, I feel quite inadequate with my single language. For me, it’s not about the arrogance of believing that English is the international language and that I don’t need to learn another. It’s that I have no talent for languages. I’ve tried, taken countless hours of classes in German, French and Spanish, listened to audio tapes, used interactive computer learning modules, all to no avail. I still don’t even have much better than tourist-level proficiency in any language. I consider it one of my greatest weaknesses, and it’s a source of shame for me. Still, I haven’t let that stop me from exploring the world, learning about other cultures and developing close personal relationships with people around the globe.
Since beginning my studies, I’ve been confronted several times, in lectures, books and journal articles, with the opinion that you can’t truly understand a culture without learning the language. I’m not sure I buy it. Admittedly I haven’t delved deeper to see if anyone has backed up the opinion with proof, and maybe my own lack of language skills makes me biased, but I’m sceptical. For one thing, I’ve known many many people who are fluent in a second language, and yet remain completely monocultural, keeping their minds closed, holding onto their cultural biases. Their knowledge of the language doesn’t seem to have increased their cultural understanding at all. They seem, instead, to simply be translating, substituting words but not ways of thinking.
However, I do agree with Wierzbicka that delving into key words in a language can provide cultural insights. In fact, just learning a bit about the Japanese word “enryo” provided insights for me that I’ve already been able to put to use in my ongoing work with a Japanese client. It’s not being able to speak the words that are important, so much as it’s understanding what is behind the words.
So here’s my own theory: You can learn about and understand a culture without becoming fluent in the language, but not without developing insights into the emotions and beliefs that are central to it. Studying key words is one way to gain insights, but I suspect there are insights to be gained by examining other clues, including cultural icons, foods, customs and other behaviour.
But I still wish I could speak additional languages. And I’ll keep taking classes and buying the latest language CD sets. In fact, just last week I spent a day at The Language Show, and took my first lesson in Japanese. I think optimism must be an American cultural trait.
Hi Barb,
I’m surprised that you have such trouble with languages because I know that you sing, and in my experience, there is a strong correlation between having a musical ear and learning languages. In your case, the learning process might be the problem: it’s much harder to learn the language in a classroom setting embedded in another linguistic and cultural setting. You might find that you do better with short, intensive courses in the countries where the language is spoken and where you can use it outside the classroom.
You commit a logical fallacy when you say that you know people who speak foreign languages and still are monocultural. Saying language proficiency is necessary for complete understanding does not mean that learning the language magically provides insight into the other culture.
Finally to address your overall point, I think it depends on what level of understanding a culture you are talking about. Yes, I think you can learn a lot about a culture without speaking the language, but speaking languages isn’t just about memorising a list of words. The way people think is intimately linked with the language: to the extent that there is currently a debate among linguists about which comes first.
And language gives enormous insights into all of the cultural icons, foods, customs and behaviours that you mention. I would also include history. Just to cite a couple of examples:
* The French language is heavily influenced by the country’s rural past to which it is fiercely attached, a fact which is clear to anyone who pays any attention to French politics.
* That being said, the French that is recognized as the standard language today is closest to the way French is spoken in the Loire Valley. This reflects the fact that the kings of France where based in this region at the time that centralized, modern France came into being. You’ll never figure that out only by memorizing words. you need to know the language well enough to detect accents and variations in vocabulary.
* Even though I am not even remotely fluent, studying Arabic actually gave me enormous insights on both Arabic cultures and, to my initial surprise, southern European cultures. Upon reflection, I realized that many of the traits shred in Mediterranean Europe have been heavily influenced by Arabic culture in past centuries since there was so much traffic across Mare Nostrum. It is one thing to learn that these cultures have a particular approach to time and quite another to realize the link with the fact that in the Arabic language there are no tenses in the temporal sense that we understand them in English: just a concept of things being accomplished or not being accomplished.
While I have made a big effort to learn about other cultures and to learn languages, I can confidently say that my understanding is deepest of the cultures whose languages I speak best.
I am completely of the opinion that you can’t truly understand a culture if you don’t speak the language. I’d go further, you have to live it.
You can, of course, have great insight but many aspects of culture get lost in translation and/or are meaningless without first hand experience.
You can study history and translate jokes and old sayings but you are not likely to fully understand what it all means unless you’ve submerged yourself in that cultural environment and, for that, you have to speak the language.
But this is just my own bias take on things!
Hello,Barb (if I may)
You might enjoy the taste of success by learning - and using - Esperanto. It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states, but his a widespread speech community.
Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net
Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing in about fifteen countries over recent years.
Hello Barb
I visited the language show, and saw the “Esperanto” stand there.
I do speak this language, and I do feel somewhat biased in its favour
However your readers may be interested in http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Kristen,
You’ve make some great points, and as usual, given me much to think about. The music/language link could be a key for me. Maybe I could learn easier if the lessons were set to music?
Barb
Bill & Brian,
Thanks for the suggestions about Esperanto. Very interesting. I’ll look into it.
Barb
Hi Laura,
I suspect you are right, that the very best way to understand a culture is to submerge yourself in it. Before I got married and settled down in the UK, my dream was to spend the rest of my life living in lots of different countries. Falling in love with an Englishman (with very deep roots) changed my plans, so I have to make do with shorter visits. On the plus side, I’ve learned a great deal about British culture (though there are probably some things I will never understand).
Barb
To throw in an extra variable - how many people “understand” their native culture, after growing up in it and using the “first language”?
I do think that understanding a language opens a lot of doors to understanding a culture, but I’d be provocative and say that “submersion” might not be the best route to the kind of understanding you need to then explore and explain differences between two cultures…
Barb, I enjoyed this post and the comments that followed. It has provoked a knee jerk response which goes something along the lines of “pfiffle” to all those who think they have deep understanding of anything (myself included). I’m wondering if it is the pursuit of understanding, or the awareness of lack of understanding that is more admirable and ultimately useful than the expertise. Just thinking…