Society and Culture: Languages
Do languages in different culture have differences?
1) Introduction:
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. Additionally, language is processed in many different locations in the human brain. The use of language has become deeply entrenched in human culture. Apart from being used to communicate and share information, language also has social and cultural uses, such as signifying group identity, social stratification and for social grooming and entertainment.
The purpose of this research is to point out that language do have differences in other culture. It cannot be conclude that same languages equal to same culture. Some of the country share the common languages but they do have their own culture. The example is U.S and Canada, their common language is English but their culture is totally different.
From what we have seen in the society, people always facing the problem in the limitation of languages. If a language has no word for a certain concept, then its speakers would not be able to understand this concept. On the other hand, people might confuse on the word which is same but it do have different meaning. The problem that I wish to address in this research is the language differences in other culture. Especially within this multicultural society as Malaysia, we do share the common languages with other races such as English, Mandarin and Malay. When three different races seat together, we might use English or Malay as a first languages to communicate. By referring to the languages used in our country, I hope people will understand that people do share the same languages but they do not share the same culture.
2) Problem Statement:
As i mentioned before,the problem statement of this topic is the language differences in other culture. Different culture use languages in different ways. People sometimes will confuse on the meaning of certain terms in the use of languages. For an example, in the working places, many executives have been confused to see their Japanese colleagues nod, even when they don’t agree with what is proposed. The reason is that the Japanese word used for agreement, “hai”, means “I understand” or “I am listening”, which is not the same as “sure, I agree.”
The other problem is the indigenous languages don't use the terms like "left" and "right." Instead, everything is talked about in terms of directions north, south, east, west. In the society, the English speakers will normally use the word left or right to show the directions.
On the other hand, people always misunderstand the meaning of certain terms. Such like English likes to describe events in terms of agents doing things. English speakers tend to say things like "John broke the vase" even for accidents. But speakers of Spanish or Japanese would be more likely to say "the vase broke itself".
As I mentioned before, people always confuse on a word which is same spelling and pronunciation but have different meaning. For the example, when Thailand people said 'peng' means expensive, but for Chinese who spoke Cantonese, 'peng' means cheap. Thus, many different words, sayings or phrases that used in culture. Different culture create many different words and phrases but some is still the same thing.
3) Purpose of the content:
The purpose of this research is to find out the languages differences in other culture and to understand the culture through languages. The first objective is to find out whether there is a different between language and culture in the society. From this objective we will be able to find out language act differently in the culture. The second objective is to examine whether learning more languages can get deepest understanding on culture of others. Such like learning Mandarin can get better understanding on the culture of China or Taiwan. Through this objective, we will be able to find out the culture in every country.
4) Review of content:
The article that will be analyzed is from wall street journal written by Lera Boroditsky, 2010. Boroditsky and her colleague Alice Gaby doing an experiment in Aboriginal community in Australia. They found the Aboriginal arranged time from east to west. That is, they seated facing south, and the time went left to right. When they facing north, the time went right to left. When facing east, toward the body, and so on. In this, Boroditsky and Gaby never told the Aboriginal which direction they faced. The conclusion is the Aboriginal not only knew that already, but they also spontaneously used this spatial orientation to construct their representations of time. Boroditsky stated that many other ways to organize time exist in the world's languages. In Mandarin, the future can be below and the past above. In Aymara, spoken in South America, the future is behind and the past in front.
Another article published in The New York Times magazine stated that English does oblige us to specify certain types of information that can be left to the context in other languages. The example is if I want to tell you in English about a dinner with my neighbor, I may not have to mention the neighbor’s sex, but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event: I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions. Again, this does not mean that the Chinese are unable to understand the concept of time. But it does mean they are not obliged to think about timing whenever.
5) Research Questions:
Do languages in different culture have differences?
Do language be used to understand the culture of others?
References:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383131592767868.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6303-language-may-shape-human-thought.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070918-languages-extinct.html
http://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/how-culture-influences-language-2010-11-04.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2s4oCkpc4I
No comments:
Post a Comment