Culture as part of the communication 5

 

– [the Red Queen] “But you make no remark?”

– “I didn’t know I had to make one-just then” – Alice faltred out.

– “You should have said,” – the Queen went on in a tone of grave reproof, – “It’s extremely kind of you to tell me all this”
– Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

          I am sure that every student of a foreign language is going to find himself, at some stage, in the same situation as Alicia with the Red Queen: unsure about what speech they have to use with a particular interlocutor, or how to materialize their communicative intentions, without any idea what is it that their interlocutor is expecting from them and if they should participate in a certain context. In sum, what ritual communication patterns must be followed.

“Señor,” said Sancho, “I see well enough that all these things your worship has said to me are good, holy, and profitable; but what use will they be to me if I don’t remember one of them?

– Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

            On the other hand, sometimes, the students get so overwhelmed with all the cultural information, not lived or experienced by themselves, not linked with their necessities or tastes, that they become “Sanchos”. They recognize the interest in that information but they are sure being “showered” by millions of explanatory words is not the way to interiorize that knowledge.

And here is where it comes the importance or necessity of teaching culture as an insoluble part of the communication.

 
        But, what is culture?

          I won’t paraphrase definitions from others, for me, culture is what has been acquired or learnt inside the society, like the traditions or ways of life. This guided and repetitive behaviors and ways of thinking and feeling shared by one community. 

          So language and culture must go hand in hand, because both are essential in the communication. Knowing the language is not enough in a real situation since we use so many cultural elements in our speech that someone who doesn’t know this cultural aspects is going to hear a completely indecipherable message. 

          In the same way, when we learn a language and then we go to another country with the expectation of it, we use that language but follow our cultural patterns, which sometimes creates a feeling of frustration, of not understanding what is going on.

          I have a practical example: I have used this exercise in some Spanish classes. Imagine this situation: a middle-aged person goes to another middle age person’s house to get back a book, they are acquaintances, but don’t know each other very much. There are 4 dialogues and the student has to choose the most likely to happen in Spain.