Perspectives on culture and language

【Abstract】：Culture and language are closely linked， they are inseparable and interactional. Culture influences several parts of language like semantics， pragmatics， and on the other side， language often represents the features of culture stamped with characteristics of the times and nationality and reflect the distinctive features shared by the language community as time goes by. So， foreign language acquisition is definitely not a process where learners only focus on learning the linguistic knowledge of the target language ， but a course where we are supposed to grasp the interrelation of the language utterances and culture background. Here， taking Japanese as an example， some low-grade errors can be avoided and a model of efficient， funny language learning will come into being.

【Key words】： culture and language； Japanese； language learning； interrelation

For native speaker of Chinese， there seems to be no more difficulty in learning Japanese as a second language than for western learners due to so much familiarities existing between these two kinds of languages. However， though here lie a large number of common characteristics since Japanese learned and imitated too many figures of Chinese in ancient times， at the same period Japanese people innovated and recreated more ethnic features of their own， gave new significations to words and formulated fresh criteria and principles. Hence， Japanese people constructed the society with completely Japanized figures instead of Chinese-like， so it is essential for multilingual learners to get acknowledged that culture and language need to be acquired simultaneously during the process of learning in order to enhance comprehension.

Therefore， we cannot only study vocabulary or phonology but should be aware of the cultural connotation embodied in the target language. In daily life， we often listen to some misuse of Japanese with inappropriate pronunciation or collocation we simply remove from Chinese. It is our misunderstanding or lack of understanding that caused the problem we have encountered. So， learning a language along with its culture tends to be necessary.

Culture provides language with hotbed， benefiting language development.

To begin with， much emphases have been put on getting start to know the background of the language --- the target culture. Japan is an island country with a limited territory， surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Japan Sea. So， Japanese people formed a special culture highly related with sea and anything associated with sea. According to the interpretation of its name “hi no moto” which used in ancient times， meaning Japan is the place where the sun rises from， particularly signifies that the sun rose up from the mother sea which fed Japanese ancestors.

Something interesting is， Japanese maybe the only one language in the world that uses countless words about fish. Undoubtedly， Japanese has a culture significantly influenced by the sea and people have great honor to the gifts the nature grants. So the sea culture affects the daily life and hence， the language using. When it turns to the fish， we may recall the item called “sashimi”， a kind of Japanese cuisine， which refers to the cooking method of cutting fresh fish into slices and eating by dipping them in sauces. But sashimi is not made from only one kind of fish but a large variety， including tuna fish， flatfish and others particularly living in Japan Sea. And of course， some names of the fish were created according to various Chinese characters such as 鱧， which is not seen frequently in vocabulary. Moreover， Japanese people named fish according to the different stages of growth. For example， “inada” grows up being “warasa” and finally becomes full-mature fish named “buli” （crucian）. Therefore， when learners read articles about fish at the very start， they may be confused of different names but they are supposed to draw a clear distinction among the different references not only on the level of vocabulary but on concrete context.

And as a consequence， in the course of their long accumulation of life experience， Japanese people like to use numbers of proverbs about fish to express their thoughts， like 海老で鯛を釣る （throw a sprat to catch a whale）， 八百屋に魚を注文する （go in the wrong direction）. Such sentences use miscellaneous fish names to put forward the underlying meanings， many of which are showed by Japanese people how they view the outside world and how they define the human’s characteristics， thus reflecting that Japanese is deeply influenced by the sea culture.

On the other aspect， ancient Japan accepted Buddhist culture and spirit of universal thoughts， so in some well-known literal works there are a mass of golden words indicating the philosophy of Japanese people. Matsuo Bash （1644-1694）， a famous poet known as the greatest poet of haiku， a Japanese form of light poetry consisting of 17 words， left plentiful golden words and poems conserved till today， one of them isもの言ぇぱ、唇寒し、秋の風. When looking at this sentence， we got the information that the time became late in fall， and the walker felt lonely and pretty depressed when the chilly wind touched his lips. Afterwards， with further interpretation to the worldview of Japanese people affected by Buddhist culture， a new form came into being since his poem got prevailed： もの言ぇぱ、唇寒し，which was simplified to express the connotation that disaster emanates from careless talk. So， self-discipline and the view on the relation of fortune and adversity rooted in Buddhist culture definitely influence the language using.

Culture influences language’s meaning， reference and usage， conversely， language reflects unique characteristics of the target language and lay influence on the culture. Language is the reflection of essence of the culture.

Japan is well-known by etiquette， especially the word form， which determines every aspect in citizens’ life. Honorific in Japanese， is a special pattern that Japanese people use to handle the issues in interpersonal relations and to maintain their social status. Since Chinese native speakers use only such words 您， 先生， 夫人 and other polite personal appellations enough to show respect to others， Japanese people not only use such reference words like 奧様 （madam） but in more detailed expressions in syntax to express request， command and appeal.

Based on social hierarchies and interpersonal distance， honorific usage reflects the relationships between interlocutors or information producer with receiver. For example， when a subordinate employee wants to show appreciation to his superior， one honorific that puts others upward is used for greeting like おかげさまで、仕事はもうお終わりになりました。（Thanks for your help to complete the work.）， but it is different from the English sentence with the same meaning because the speaker uses more honorific expressionおかげさまでandお...になりました to emphasize the higher position of the person he confronts with. Another instance 今、わたしの家族をご紹介申し上げます。（Now， I would like to introduce my family to you.） shows that the speaker uses a more humble accent to express his will to give the listener a brief introduction about his family members， thus putting him and his family on a lower stage than the interlocutor so that a modesty sense would be sent out. Both forms of honorific are available in communication but are based on the person the speaker will face. However， if a Japanese people talks to someone with lower status than himself or somebody very familiar like friend or partner or spouse （but not parent or relatives who are older than him）， it is not necessary to use honorific but more casual words instead. So， using honorific indicates that Japanese people communicate with others by focusing on social status， age and benefit-based relationships and verifies that Japanese people attach higher attention to interpersonal relationships than any other native speakers in the whole world.

Japanese people like using a sentence和を以て貴しとなす， which expresses the common concept that peacefulness and harmony are prized. In other word， it emphasizes that individual’s value is inferior to collective interest， the power of unity is greater than one person’s strength and the integrality of nature and society is put on a significant stage. Some typical utterances shows integral thinking patterns of Japanese native speakers.

仕事は大勢 （Many hands make the job easy.）

世の中は相持 （ Man needs help and so does the matter.）

In fact， the sentence和を以て貴しとなす derives from禮之用， 和為貴， which is a golden sentence noted in the Analects of Confucius that is a crystallization of Chinese wisdom. After the transmission to Japan， it was understood by Japanese people and then became the basic mode of behaviors they stuck to. Japanese people believe group-work makes profound effects on complete success. Once a little story said， that ten Chinese people got together to complete a work but failed because every of them was so clever and distinctive that they could not come to an agreement， then ten Japanese came together and finished the work in one’s leadership due to their unity despite one clever together with nine foolish.

In another aspect， we cannot ignore metaphors applied in Japanese and its literature. Japanese people are adept for adjusting what seems abstract and making it contained in concrete matters， or change something abstract into tangible categories， we call this concreteness， contrary to abstraction， to show one’s emotion.

空き樽は音が高い （Man with true intelligence and ability does not flaunt while man with smatter speaks aloud.）

風に柳 （docile and obedient）

As we know that Japanese has many characters extracted from Chinese， thus Japanese itself is stamped with the Chinese language and culture. Expert Chen Jianmin considered that Chinese is a language with concreteness， and thus be good for the development of poetry. It is also true for Japanese since it rests in the same language token system. People mixed the concrete things together in a single syntax structure， including touch， vision， auditory sense and other aspects they truly experienced， and endow them with emotions， feelings and attitudes toward something especially life and death. Therefore， haiku， waka （a deviation of ancient Chinese poetry） have been spread among the folk broadly.

君がため 春の野にいでて 若菜つむ

わが衣手に 雪は降りつつ

This is a piece of waka of which the content conveys the true affection for someone the writer treasured. The poet combined the plain， herb and the flying snow into an entirety to express his love for the beloved. We can see that Japanese people usually use implicitly express their thoughts and feelings because of the concrete language form.

Conclusion

The relationship between language and culture is obviously bidirectional. Particular culture exerts special influence on the language， thus forming a characteristic language community shared with the same culture consciousness. The language itself is a mirror reflecting the unique features that the target culture contains. Thinking model， worldview and more abstract anthropic ideology are all the reflection that the language wants to tell us. Without comprehension of culture and its language， learning may be not quite easy to proceed， let alone the happiness. Here starting from a native speaker of Chinese， I just take Japanese culture and the language as examples in order to highlight the importance of the interaction of the two notions and hope that it can encourage subsequent learners to grasp the arts of language learning not only language itself.

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