LANGUAGE
AND CULTURE
A.
What
is culture?
Experts
say:
1. Gurito
stated that culture indicates all aspects that members of a group share
together. Children learn the ways of doing things, ways of talking, smiling,
laughing, liking, and disliking things. Culture determines people actions,
their social relationship and their morality.[1]
2. Dwyer
stated that culture is that which the language learner needs to know in order
to understand the meaning of message in another language other than formal
properties of the language code (syntax, morphology and phonology).[2]
Culture
is communication and communication is culture. Culture influences perception,
behavior and communication. Cultures produce different live in this world,
because each country has different cultures. In short, when culture is different,
communication practices is also different.
Smith
pointed out that in modern society, different people communicate in different
ways. As do people in different society in the world; and the way people
communicate is the way they live. It is their culture. Who talks with whom? How?
And about what? These are questions of communication and culture. Communication
and culture are inseparable.[3]
Based
on the explanation above, we get the conclusion that culture is a powerful
force in how we see the world and interact in that world.
People
relate culture with traditional dancing traditional ceremony and art. We can
take the example from American, Western and Pariaman culture. They are Rodeo,
and Tbuik in Pariaman. Halloween belongs to western, means that not only
American culture but also British, Rodeo is one of American culture and Tabuik
is one of celebration in Pariaman, considering as a representation of Pariaman
culture. These activities are the representation of culture.
The
way people speak to their friend, to their parents, teacher or even stranger
represents culture. Another example is western people eat using knife and fork,
Chinese use chopstick while Indonesian eat use their hand.
Related
to the concept of culture, there are also cultural values and cultural norms.
a. Cultural
value
Value is about what is
good and desirable or bad and undesirable. A culture's values
are its ideas about what is good, right, fair, and just.[4]
Example a home has many values. It is desirable in term of money or in term of
the usage.
Another example is
American highly value independence and self-reliance. So independence and
self-reliance are important value for American.
b. Cultural
norm
Norms are standard
rules and they are accepted by people in the community. Norms consist of
folkways, the way of the people, when the custom is broken, there is no fatal
consequence but it more concerns to the basic moral values of community.
For example, in Indonesia it is
against the norms for two unmarried people, man and woman, to live together.
Whereas in Western this phenomenon is common since it is not against their
norms. Another example, wearing a bikini to church may be offensive (inpolite),
but it is not against the law.
Another
example of norm and value is the meaning of the same expression feeling, in
this case smiling. It is between Balinese (obligatory smile) and American
(social smile). In Balinese culture, people are constantly enjoined to forget
their trouble, to not think and to become cheerful as the result of this
strategy. American social smile has different function: it projects a positive
image, causing people to think something good about its person who smiled. And
it is an effort to get rid of bad feeling and to generate oneself genuine
(real) good feelings.
Americans
need to be liked. Australians are less concerned than American. They do not
take other’s comment about them seriously. Therefore, they do not try as hard
as American to influence other people’s opinion of them.
B.
Language
and culture
Because
communication is language, means that there is a real relation between them. Here
is an example how a language can differentiate a country.
Ani
(Indonesian) : Wah, tasnya bagus
sekali.
Nina
(Indonesian) : Ah, ini tas jelek murah kok (blushing).
Susan
(American) : wow, your bag is so awesome.
Marry
(American) : thank you (smiling).
In
Indonesia, such in the example, if Nina agrees with Ani, she will be considered
as an arrogant. In contrast with American, it is ok to be agreed with sombody’s
compliment.
Color
terminology is also an example of relationship between language and culture.
Such as, blond is one of English terminology that does not have exact
translation to any of Indonesian color terminology. This color terminology is
needed by American and English for their hair color which does not exist in
Indonesia.
The
next example is taboo and euphemism. Taboo means the prohibition or avoidance
in any society but not in other society. This condition can be changed from
time to time. For example the English word ‘damn’ was considered as taboo word
in the past, but not anymore, well at least not as strong as before. Taboo and
euphemism are usually related standards and norms in society.
The
way people rejecting something have a very close relation with their culture
background too. For example, Americans are straightforward in expressing their rejection.
The Javanese tend to avoid expressing their rejection openly. It is related to
their culture which is impolite to say no.
a. American
A:” Can you help me
taking these chairs to the classroom?”
B: “I am sorry I
can’t.”
b. Javanese
A: Ana, apakah Anda
bisa menliskan surat ini?
B: Tulisan sari lebih bagus, Pak.
American people tell “no” directly
when they cannot help, but Javanese are trying hard to say no in order avoiding
impoliteness. Although in fact it is clear that they are refusing.
C.
The
basic function of culture
Culture
makes all things become easy. So the basic function of culture is to help
people in all life activities. Cultures have majored three human needs:
1. Basic
needs (food, shelter, physical protection).
2. Derived
needs (organization of work, distribution of food, defense, and social
control).
3. Integrative
needs (psychological security, social harmony, purpose in life).
D.
The
element of culture
Here are the
elements of culture:
1. History
Example: the Great Wall
of China and America Revolution
2. Religion
Example: silent beliefs
and activities (rites, ritual, taboo and ceremonies).
3. Values
Values are culturally
defined standard of desirability, goodness, and beauty. As guideline, values
help determine how people ought to behave.
4. Social
organization
Cultures sometimes are
referred to as social system or social structures. The organizations such units
and institution- including family, government, school and tribes- help the
members of culture organize their lives.
5. Language
Language is another way
of transmission culture. For example, Indonesian, Chines, English, French and
so on, its words, meanings, syntax bear (consist) the identification mark of
a specific culture.
E.
Defining
culture
We just try to
connect whether our cultural believes or values we are holding influencing our
interpretation of the world and interactions in it. For example our view about
American flag, work, immigration, freedom, age, healing and health, sex, status
differentiation and so on are all part of our cultural membership.
F.
The
characteristic of culture
Some
characteristics of culture:
1. Culture
is learned
How to learn culture?
a. Through
proverb
b. Trough
folktales, legends, and myths.
c. Through
arts
d. Through
mass media
2. Culture
is shared. It is from one member to another.
3. Culture
is transmitted from generation to generation.
4. Culture
is based on symbols
5. Culture
is dynamic.
6. Culture
is an integrated system.
CONCLUSION
Culture
is the closest thing in human life because culture communicates human feeling.
It is used for sending message from one self to another, one community to
another or even one country to another country. People correlate culture with
many aspects, such as habit, tradition, religion, art, and language. Actually,
people can see the meaning of culture from so many aspects because many actions
people act correlating with culture mostly. If communication is called culture,
means that people will never be able separated from culture itself.
There
are cultural norms and values which are different to each country. It means
that culture is a powerful force in how people see the world and interact in
that world.
[1]
Rahayu dwi riyanti, cross cultural
understanding, (Indonesia: Universitas Terbuka, 2007), p. 1.2.
[2]
Ibid, p. 1.3.
[3]
Larry A. Samovar, dkk, communication
between culture, (Canada: THOMSON, 2007), p. 17.
[4]
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Cultural-Values.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26852.html, (retrieved March, 9th, 2013: 12pm).
