Introduction
Culture and language have a composite, homologous relationship whereby an explicit language is related to a specific group of people. It is elementary to interact with one’s culture when we get to know their language. A group of people’s behavioral trends and characterization, known as culture, is inextricably linked with their way of speech, written symbols, or manuals, which brings out their language. In our day-to-day activities, it is elementary to identify different cultures from their other local languages; hence, it is true that language and culture are indistinguishably linked. Therefore, this paper seeks to explain detailed information on culture and languages.
The Relationship Between National Languages and Cultures
Language Multitude in One Country
Indisputably, there are no pure monolingual countries; that may be due to immigration and emigration and the evolution that has taken place since ancient times; thus, several countries are close to monolingual but not purely. Only a few countries are closely related to being monolingual (Saddhono, 2018). Notably, Papua New Guinea is an island country located in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean that is measured as one of the most miscellaneous countries in terms of culture. It has an 8 million people populace with 851 languages, of which 11 have unfamiliar speakers.
The United States of America is a central nation of 50 states in North America (Oxford, 2018). Typically, the most spoken language in the US is American English, although they lack a common local language. American English has become the primary national language, with 176 languages indigenous in the area, while the population signs in around 430.
In the Southern area of North America is Mexico, well bordered by the US, where Spanish is the de facto national language spoken by the vast 1128 million residents. However, the government distinguishes 364 varieties of indigenous versus sixty-eight linguistic groups. Mainly Brazil is the largest country in both Latin and South America. Its official language is Portuguese, which almost all residents speak, and it is virtually used on television, radio, and in newspapers or for governmental purposes. Brazil signs roughly 228 languages, with 11 being from the immigrants and 217 indigenous. Mostly, these are the countries that are considered more lingual across the world, including China, Nigeria, and Australia, to mention but a few.
Bilingualism
Bilingual education includes coaching academic content in both inbred and secondary lingos. Immigrant children in a given country could have difficulties in bilingual education (Klejn, 2018). These kids may have different cultures and languages from that of the migration country, thus making it hard to learn both the native and foreign language of that given country (Chávez-Moreno, 2020). Differing cultures could lead to notable growth in bilingual education. People from different ethnic groups could learn and accommodate each other’s culture when they interact, thus the development of bilingualism.
Culture causes increased bilingual education in that one doesn’t need to be proficient in his native languages, but rather, other people are more fluent in the foreign language. Typically, this makes it easy to learn and adopt the cultures of the foreign community since efficient communication brings a common understanding and, thus, significant growth to the community. However, this scenario mostly happens when the native language is not frequently used.
Social Role
Language and culture are inextricably related in that a change in a particular society’s language indicates a shift in its values at first. One cannot learn a new culture without knowing the language since there will be no effective communication between the two cultures. Language is related to human life in a community. Understanding the immediate culture is key to the erudition of a given language.
Depending on where one grows up, paralanguage will differ. Mostly, we learn from the people around us and adopt their expressions, intonations, and behaviors, thus living according to their lifestyle. Culture and language share realities, actions, and human beliefs; hence, culture and language are related. Whether it is an everyday conversation or a nationwide folktale, culture and language always go hand-in-hand. If one is bilingual, voice intonation and explanation could change amicably from one culture to another.
Language is not only used as a tool for exchanging information but can be symbolic truths like perceptions, values, or even identities. A piece of art in each region can symbolize a given traditional myth in each society. Many cultures are identified mainly through their language. To know if someone is Mexican, one must speak Spanish.
Conclusion
Conclusively, language and culture will always be very close because each affects the other. Disputably, language is a mirror of culture. People can oversee a culture through a given language. Specific languages are born from the many cultures in a given society. Every language form used by a particular group of people has meaning or, instead, carries the meaning not in the assumed sense because it is associated with a more extensive culture. Therefore, it is proper to conclude that culture and language relate from time to time. Since different cultures have different languages, we can learn from each other.
References
Chávez-Moreno, L. C. (2020). Researching Latinxs, racism, and white supremacy in bilingual education: A literature review. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 17(2).
Klejn, L. S., Haak, W., Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N., Reich, D., Kristiansen, K.,… & Willerslev, E. (2018). Discussion Are the origins of Indo-European languages explained by the migration of the Yamnaya Culture to the West?. European Journal of archaeology.
Oxford, R. L., & Gkonou, C. (2018). Interwoven: Culture, Language, and Learning Strategies. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(2).
Saddhono, K. (2018, March). Cultural and social change of international students in Indonesia: The influence of Javanese Culture in Teaching Indonesian to Speakers of Other Languages (TISOL). IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 126, No. 1, p. 012091). IOP Publishing.