Teaching Culture Through a Foreign Language

Languages and Culture: English as a Foreign Language

Globalization has unified people all around the globe. Media, especially social media, have destroyed physical barriers to allow humans to be in contact with the rest of the world. Now people have unlimited access to knowledge, entertainment, and socialization. This globalization process has created many needs for individuals.

The most noticeable need that humans have developed lately is the necessity to speak a foreign language. People need to be able to communicate with others not only from their own region but also abroad. Communication serves two important functions: commercialization and socialization. There are hundreds of spoken languages around the world, and we know that learning a new language takes time, so learning all the world languages to communicate with the most people possible sounds not possible. 

Consequently, it seemed that humanity needed a language that all citizens from different places could speak. Interestingly, through time, English took that position. Nowadays, English is known as the lingua franca, and we can find English speakers almost in any country of the globe. Moreover, in many fields of study data is available in English, so it facilitates the access to more citizens as long as they master the language.

Some people think that if they want to learn a language, they only need to know the linguistic aspects of it. However, to learn a language, you need to know its roots, in other words its cultural background. How can a person understand, for example, an idiomatic expression that expresses daily life features if one knows nothing about the people who speak that language as their mother tongue? Here, knowledge of cultural background will be needed.

Furthermore, it has been proved that to learn English effectively, learners need a lot of input, which in order to be meaningful must be as authentic as possible. This means that an English learner will be in contact with native users of the language which will facilitate this cultural contact.

These are only two examples, but there are many reasons that show the interrelation of languages and culture.

If you are learning English or any other foreig language, or if you are interested in learning it, keep in mind that you need cultural exposure. This will help you to open your mind, learn new interesting things, and learn English in a more meaningful way.

Images taken from google