The Relationship Between Language and Culture
People from different areas have their own languages. For example, if you go to China, Chinese people will speak in Mandarin. But if you go to Japan, people there will have a different language, Japanese. People with distinct languages communicate with others in the same area and gradually they form their own culture.
From my perspective, I think language is the way to spread culture. In ancient time, people came out of languages and words to talk with others. And in different tribes, the language became the way to spread one’s thoughts to others. At the beginning of languages, people used the gestures to express themselves. As time goes by, the Oracle and Hieroglyph were invented so that people can record their thoughts, which seem as their own culture. Besides, using China an example, If we want to delve into the culture of a particular age, the easiest way is to look up the words from that time. All these words are maybe in a book, on the wall, or on the surface of a bottle. But these words are the language for the people in that time. By looking at these languages, we can understand the thoughts of people in that time, which is their own culture.
Moreover, if we consider the religions and educations, we can easily find that language is the way to spread culture. As we all know, parents who want to their children better are likely to let them read more books written by famous people. My parents are not an exception so that in my childhood, I read a lot of books from celebrities, such as Steven Jobs, Helen Keller, and Hemingway. I think all these books are filled with their thoughts, which is the treasure of human culture. At the same time, these books written by a kind of language are translated to Mandarin so that I am able to read them. By this way, I have an understanding of foreign culture. So I believe the language is a perfect method to pass the culture from an area to a different area.
In addition, the inheritance of religion can not be separated from language. For instance, as we all know, the bishops in the church always spread their teachings in oral form. By listening to his teachings, the congregation grasped his meaning, thus generating their own understanding. In this process of inheritance of religion, we can find the language plays an important role. It is the communication between the bishops and congregation that makes the religion grow. So I believe language is very necessary in the inheritance of culture, especially in education and religions.
In conclusion, language is the perfect method to express people’s thoughts and various opinions from people consist of the culture of those people. The communication of people has the ability to enrich and prosper culture, especially in education and religions. At the same time, it is the transformation of languages that promotes cultural integration in different regions. So I believe the language is the way to spread culture.
