Posts Tagged ‘language’
Does language shape culture?
Does language shape culture? It’s an interesting question. Even more interesting, though, is the answer. Yes. Apparently, language not only expresses our views, but also helps to shape our very thoughts.
Flemish, French and Belgian
The country of Belgium is a remarkable success story considering the simmering tensions that have persisted for decades between the country’s Flemish-speaking north and its French-speaking south. The International Herald Tribune has a fascinating article today that discusses the links between culture and country, while contemplating the difficulties of keeping two cultures happy within a single nation. The [...]
Many languages going extinct
Remarkably, about half of the languages currently spoken in the world are said to be in danger of going extinct during the coming century. A story in the International Herald Tribune reports: Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear [...]
Words that shock in different cultures
We all know, of course, that people in various cultures can have vastly different ways of communicating. But different ways of swearing? Well, as this recent article from the Washington Post points out, when French-speaking Canadians get angry, they tend to spew religious words that could have been taken straight out of Catholic Church service. “Oh, tabernacle!” [...]
Rise in Chinese language programs
Last month, I had a post about the rise of Chinese language classes in Latin America, which is being spurred by the increase in business between the cultures. Apparently, there is also considerable interest among Americans in learning to speak Chinese, stretching all the way down to elementary school language programs. The International Herald Tribune just ran a story about [...]
Americans are pragmatists, Iranians are poets
If you want an example of how challenging it can sometimes be to communicate across cultures, I came across an excellent article that details some of the differences between the U.S. and Iranian styles of speaking. For example, do ‘yes’ and ‘no’ always mean what we think? “Speech has a different function than it does [...]
Irish English and American English
Language is of course one of the most common obstacles to communication across cultures. It often surprises us, though, when these obstacles crop up even among individuals who speak the same language, albeit in different countries. There is a popular quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw about England and America being “two countries separated by the same language.” [...]
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