Faculty department

2.Learning the culture of foreign languages

Is Understanding Culture Essential to Learning a Language?Learning a language goes beyond memorizing words and basic grammar rules. Just because you know how to say ‘lemon’ and ‘glass’ in French, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to order lemonade in a coffee shop in Paris. In fact, you may be surprised by what you get instead!There’s more to building a conversation with a native than you read in a dictionary. That’s why you can’t try learning a language outside of its cultural environment.Understanding culture is like having a context that allows you to give the right meaning to each new word you learn. The more you know about the sociocultural background, the easier it is to get involved and learn new words, expressions and ways of speaking.Culture is essential to learning a language well enough to communicate with natives. In fact, most universities and even high schools invest in exchange programs to allow students to learn languages in the right environments.

Culture Increases Engagement in Learning a Language

When studying languages, you need motivation to progress with verbs, tenses, the use of adverbs, phrasal verbs, and so on. Add to that hundreds of new words, maybe even new letters, and you’ll find yourself ready to quit after the first three lessons!
When you can place all this new information in a cultural context, it can help you engage at a different level with the foreign language. Learning about how native people live and talk introduces a human side to the language, which keeps you hooked on the learning process.
To understand culture, you need to go further than textbooks and dictionaries. You can use a wide range of alternative resources to get relevant information about the locals:
Movies – Spanish speaking students who watched English movies improved their listening and speaking skills faster than their colleagues. Watching subtitled movies or TV programs instead of dubbed ones can give you an accurate image about how native people speak. You’ll get to notice particular expressions, accents and tones of voice that will help you understand more about the cultural environment of the language you’re studying.
Newspapers and magazines – There’s a significant difference between what you learn at school and what you find in magazines. This happens because columns stay in line with how people actually speak to each other in everyday life. They respect all grammar rules, but keep a natural voice at the same time.
Blogs – They have the advantage of connecting you with the local vocabulary. Depending on the niche, you can even improve terminology and learn some items you’ll only find in the ‘urban’ dictionary.
Original literature – Reading original versions of novels is both a reason and a method for learning a language. You get to see how the author has built phrases and what new meaning he or she gives to various words.
Traveling – It remains the most important resource when looking to improve your language skills. You’ll not only listen to how natives speak, but you’ll get to communicate with them as well. Traveling is the most efficient way of learning a language because it gives you less alternatives. You either learn to say it right, or you risk to creating chaos and potentially embarrassing situations!