Language and Culture

I have come to realize that, almost as much as other dimensions of culture, language divides us into groups. It affects what we read in the newspapers, what we watch on television and what we hear on the radio. News can be reported in really different ways by different language media. This information affects our outlook on the world.

The topics on television shows in a particular language and the way they portray reality also influences us. Our family rarely watches English language tv and so the many unwholesome trends and currents out of Hollywood do not affect us.

Language also affects our social groups. Language 語言 and dialect 方言 (wow, that term is in the Chinese Wilkopedia) are a way of making and keeping friends. People seem to have a language they prefer speaking with friends even if they speak several languages. If you speak this language, they will be friends with you. If you don't, it's not that they won't be friendly, but you will not get close to them.

That is why I go out of my way to speak Chinese probably more of the time than I speak English. English is my native language and I'll never have problems understanding that world. But Chinese and to a lesser extent Japanese opens the door to people, culture and a worldview that I would otherwise not have.

Well, now that I have gotten off my soapbox for tonight, for those of you who are interested in Chinese newspapers and magazines, click here. Or for those of you who prefer television, you will like this link. (Sorry, I'll get these up in the real links section soon.)