I fully support the assertion that to learn a languagewell, we should also learn about the country as wellas the cultures and lifestyles of the people whospeak it.
Let’s first see how we normally define “learning a language really well”. By my understanding,learning a language well would mean being able to speak the language in a proper way. Here,with speaking it properly, we need to know that due to cultural differences, many things arejust so different from culture to culture. For example, the Chinese often greet each other byasking ‘Have you taken your meal?’ which, to the Western ears, would make an invitation tolunch or dinner. Therefore, the lack of a knowledge of the cultures of different countries will giverise to wrong interpretations of the message issued or received and as a result, lead tomisunderstandings. In this way, we can not say that we are speaking the language properly andfurther, we can not say that we speak it well.
Second, the ultimate purpose for us to learn alanguage is to use it in our communication withother people who speak it, mainly the nativespeakers. Suppose we know nothing about the USor Britain, including its government, its people, itstradition, and its other aspects. Do you think youcan speak English properly, thus achieving effectivecommunication with the American or British people?I’ll say at least I can’t.
Third, the lifestyle of the people whose language we are learning is also something we need toknow in order that we can speak their language properly. For instance, the Chinese eat pork,but this is not the case with Muslims. Also, Muslims are very religious people and performrituals many times a day. If we don’t know these things, how can we expect to communicatewith them without incurring troubles? In this logic, if we cannot make sure that we are speakingtheir language properly, how can we say that we have learned their language well?
From the above discussion, we can draw the conclusion that to learn a language really well, wealso need to learn about the country as well as the cultures and lifestyles of the people whospeak it.
