Why Do We Say That Language英语论文
Abstract: Language and culture are inextricably intertwined. If one wants to communicate with foreigners with proper language, he must learn about the language’s culture in order to avoid misunderstanding. So culture teaching is very important in language teaching.
Key words: language culture communication
Because of different cultural background, there usually are some misunderstandings between two people whose native languages are different when they are talking, although their languages are exact. Language is part of culture. A language not only expresses facts, ideas or events which represent similar world knowledge by its people, but also reflects the people’s attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks etc. Language played a major role in socializing the people and in perpetuating of culture, especially in print form.
Learning a language, not only phonetics, grammar, phrases and idioms should be mastered, but also how the people who speak this language value the world must be understood—that is culture. So we can say language teaching is in essence culture teaching. For example, ‘zhishifenzi’ and ‘intellectual’ have different meanings in their own cultural background. In China, ‘zhishifenzi’ usually includes university teachers, university students, doctors, engineers, translators and those who accepted high educations, even teachers in high schools are also ‘zhishifenzi’. While in the USA or Europe, intellectual only includes university professors and those who have high academic position and university students are excluded. Therefore, because of different cultural background, we can not find every corresponding word in target language for every word. Different languages may reflect different cultures, different cultures entail different language expressions, idioms, proverbs and sayings and metaphors in different language, derived from different origins, also demonstrate cultural differences. There is a saying ‘xia lian san fu, dong lian san jiu’. ‘San fu’ and ‘San jiu’ are compared with in very cold writer and in very hot summer or during the coldest and the hottest days. If they are translated into three fu and three nine, how can foreigners understand? Another example, a Chinese described a crowded swimming pool as ‘zhi ma jiang zhu jiao zi’ to his foreign friend but his friend could not understand at all, because he has never seen ‘zhi ma jiang’ and ‘jiao zi’. If the westerners want to describe a very crowded place, they usually say ‘It was packed like sardines’.
There are two words ‘cowboy’ and ‘hippies’ in English but we can not find the Chinese words which have the same meaning. Because cowboy is related to American history and the legend of cowboy is romantic. If we translate it into ‘mu tong’ or ‘niu zai’, some romantic thing may be lost. And that hippie is translated into ‘xi pi shi’ also can not express the characters of American youths at that time. Different groups, who have different languages, have different world views which are reflected in their languages. The aim of learning language is to communicate. And in communication, besides using exact language, we should also pay attention to the situation, the relation between the two communications and knowledge about social culture. So we must use the appropriate language in communication. It is clear that pragmatic error sometimes is more serious than grammar error. Therefore, appropriate language is very important and if you want to use it, you must know about culture, for example, a Chinese use the word ‘lover’ to introduce his wife, which surprised foreigners, because lover in English has thesame meaning with ‘qing fu’ in Chinese. While ‘ai ren’ should be translated into husband or over, one thing or one concept may be expressed with one word in a language but in another language several words. For example, the words expressing relatives in Chinese are very difficult for foreigners. In English, sister can be used to call either ‘jie jie’ or ‘mei mei’ and brother can be used to call either ‘ge ge’ or ‘di di’.
As any linguistic sign may have denotative, connotative and iconic kinds of meanings, the same word in different languages may be entailed with different connotations. Therefore one must be careful in assuming that bilingual dictionary definitions give exact equivalents in meaning or that different languages always have words to express the same thing. For example, it is difficult for westerners to understand ‘yin’ and ‘yang’. We can not find exact equivalents in English. In Chinese-English Dictionary, ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ are explained as follows, (in Chinese philosophy, medicine, etc.) yin, the feminine or negative principle in nature; yang, the masculine or positive principle in nature.
In a word, the aim of language teaching is teaching students learn how to use language and if one wants to achieve communicative competence, the language’s culture must be learned about. Otherwise ignorance of cultural differences can create barriers in learning the target language and in communication. As a result, we can say language teaching is in essence culture teaching.
Bibliography:
The Study of Language George Yule 2000 Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
张连仲 2004 英语教学中语言与文化的关系 汉英“颜色词”的情感体现的初浅对比
-
倾听音乐、聆听音乐、静听音乐
音乐欣赏,是人的听觉器官接触音乐作品的音响运动形式而产生的一种能动的审美活动,也是一种通过音乐形象去体验和认识社会生活的积极的思维活动。通过音乐欣赏教学,可以接触古今中外的各种题材、体裁、风格的作品,从而开阔音乐视野,懂得一些基本的音乐知识,培养高尚的...
-
“多读”是语文教学的精髓
在文章中,不论是事情的记叙,人物和情境的描写,还是事物的介绍说明,观点的阐述和议论,都直接或间接,直露或含蓄地表达着作者的思想感情倾向,对学生起思想导航和激励作用,产生美感和丰富的想象,使学生不断地受到真善美的熏陶和感染。这在多数情况下都是通过朗读来实现的,忽...
-
供电企业班组员工绩效管理探讨
近年来,供电企业在不断创新与发展中,取得了不错的效益,随之而来的就是员工的绩效考核问题越发严重。为此,我们根据供电企业的特点,从整体方面对绩效考核探索出一个完善的考核模式。在现代信息社会,电成为了人们生活中必不可少的一部分,而供电企业也因为行业的增大而对...
-
浅议体育课多班同课窘境的应对策略论文
随着学校规模的不断扩大,在同一课次、同一场地上体育课的班级数也越来越多,而由于受场地、器材等因素的影响,造成了体育课多班同课教学的窘境。一、体育课多班同课教学窘境的原因1、体育设施配备滞后,同场教学有序开展受到制约。场地、器材配备与同课教学需求的差...
相关文章
- What Shall We do?-英语面试
- 10 Things You Must Do Before That Successful Interview
- What college did you attend? Why did you attend that particu
- 谈论职业英语对话:What Do You Do?
- 英语论文推荐:Language and Thought
- 初中英语课文“Why do you like koalas”说课稿
- 小学英语说课稿《Things we can do》
- (If you speak another language fluently, by all means say so
- 职场英语:10 things to do that will increase your chances
- Do you have any chronic health conditions we should consider