Many people choosing to study English as a second language do so because they want to use it when visiting foreign countries for leisure or for business. Since the mid-20th century English has become the accepted language of international statecraft and commerce – the lingua franca of the modern world.
But more than just as a means of communication, some realize that language is the key to unlocking the cultural mindset or outlook of the culture in which that language is spoken.
Understanding the language of a foreign nation or culture, helps us to understand the people, their customs and their points of view in any given situation.
The renowned expert on African and European history, Professor Quigley of Georgetown University, in a 1967 lecture discusses this problem and gives us some examples:
European languages divide time into past, present and future and this is represented in the verb systems of European languages. For example, English verbs change according to the phase of time they are expressing: He went, He goes, He will go, etc.
In contrast, speakers of Bantu, the sub-Saharan group of languages of central and southern Africa use no such distinction of time. Their languages instead express verbs only in terms of completed and uncompleted action.
These differences change not only the way in which we communicate about reality, but also how we view reality.
Quigley states, “the Bantu structures time with a broad extended duration of the present, a fairly long past, but an almost dimensionless future.”
One easily imagines how the harsh living conditions of the African native peoples: dry savannahs, fierce wildlife and a rural, and often nomadic, lifestyle, could give rise to an almost exclusive focus on the present-time environment; and with their ancient customs and heritage, the long-distant past, but with little time for attention on what the future holds.
European peoples, however, come from a milder, well-watered climate with bountiful fields and forests filled with ample produce and game. So, while Europeans still retain their past customs and heritage, there is yet time and attention for considering the future.
Thus, we have uniquely European developments such as universities, the internal combustion engine and space exploration, institutions that could never have arisen in Africa, not only due to the environment, but also the mindset of the people, and their way of thinking about that environment.
In a more immediate example, what is it about the perspective of the people of East Asia that permits them to focus on an essential element of a foreign culture and perfectly recreate it or even improve on it at home?
Take the worldwide phenomenon of anime, the Japanese style of hand-drawn or computer-generated animation that has become so popular to audiences today. Borrowed from Walt Disney pictures in the early part of the 20th century, anime has had a massive cultural impact. Yet it is distinctly different from its earlier Western counterpart.
Could this be because of kaizen (改善), the uniquely Japanese concept of continuous incremental improvement in processes and design; and seimitsu (精密) the Japanese emphasis on precision and attention to detail?
In Japanese industry, specific terms and expressions are used to convey minute details, characteristics and specifications, such as in “robotikusu” (ロボティクス) the Japanese field of robotics. It is these cultural touchstones that have elevated the Japanese to masters of engineering and innovation.
So, whereas a field of industry may have originated in a (Western) culture, due to its emphasis on qualities such as entrepreneurism, the pursuit of knowledge and application of the scientific method, yet they are advanced and perfected in another (East Asian) culture.
Thus, we see that learning the language of a culture not only permits us to communicate with others of that culture or society, but to also understand how that people thinks about and views the world.
The concept of “Travelling the World,” takes on a whole new meaning when looked at from this perspective.
Written by Ian
(中文譯文)
環遊世界
許多人選擇英語作為第二語言，因為他們希望在旅遊或出差到國外時能夠和人溝通。自20世紀中葉以來，英語已成為國際政治和商業的公認語言，是現代世界的通用語言。
但不僅是溝通工具，一些人意識到語言是解開文化思維或觀點的關鍵。理解一個國家或文化的語言幫助我們理解當地人、習俗以及特定情況下的觀點。
著名的非洲和歐洲歷史專家，喬治敦大學的奎格利教授，在1967年的一次講座中討論了這個問題並給出了一些例子：
歐洲語言將時間分為過去、現在和未來，這在歐洲語言的動詞系統中可以看見。例如，英語動詞根據它們所表達的時間而變化：他去了，他正在去，他將去等等。
相比之下，撒哈拉以南非洲中部和南部的班圖語系並沒有時間的區別，他們的語言僅以已完成和未完成的動作來表達動詞。
這些差異不僅改變了我們如何溝通現實狀況，還改變了我們如何看待現實。奎格利指出：「班圖人將時間的結構化為廣泛的現在時段，久遠的過去，以及幾乎沒有維度的未來。」
人們很容易想像非洲土著民族的艱苦生活條件：乾燥的草原、兇猛的野生動物以及鄉村生活，通常是游牧的，這可能導致他們幾乎專注於當前環境；並且由於他們的古老習俗和文化遺產，對過去有著漫長的關注，但對未來的關注卻不多。
然而，歐洲人來自氣候較溫和，農田和森林豐富的地區，生產和獵物都很豐富。因此，儘管歐洲人仍保留著他們的過去習俗和文化遺產，但還有時間和精力來考慮未來。
因此，我們擁有了獨特的歐洲發展，如大學、內燃機和太空探索，這些機構在非洲不僅因環境原因無法出現，而且因人民的思維方式和對環境的看法。
以最近的例子來說，是什麼觀點讓東亞人能專注於外國文化，並且完美地再現它甚至改進它？
以動畫作為例，這是一種全球現象，日本風格的手繪或電腦生成的動畫，非常受大眾歡迎。早在20世紀初期就從華特·迪士尼的作品中提取一些元素，然後讓動畫對文化產生了巨大影響。然而，它與早期的西方的動畫明顯不同。
這是否是因為獨特的日本概念 – 改善（kaizen），即在流程和設計方面持續增量改進；以及精密（seimitsu），這種日本強調精確性和對細節的關注？在日本工業中，使用特定術語和表達方式來表達微小的細節、特徵和規格，比如 “robotikusu”（ロボティクス）一字在日本的機器人領域。正是這些文化上的標竿使日本成為工程和創新的大師。
因此，雖然一個行業可能起源於（西方）文化，強調創業、追求知識和應用科學方法等特質，但它們在另一個（東亞）文化中得以發展並變得更加完善。
因此，我們看到學習一個文化的語言，不僅讓我們能與該文化或社會的人溝通，還讓我們理解該民族如何思考和看待世界。
從這個角度看，「環遊世界」的概念就有了全新的意義。
由 Ian 撰寫