The Relationship Between Language and Culture

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Some Muslims countries tend to be more conservative and language sensitive, and this is different from. For Example, in Saudi Arabia, people like to translate everything into Arabic. However, other countries like Syria, Qatar and the UAE, people in those countries tend to keep the names in the sources language instead of localizing them. For example, the word mobile will be used in Iraq as “موبايل” which it is the translation of the English word, but in Saudi Arabia, they will use “الجوال” which it is the translation of the word. The reason is that there is more conservative on the Arabic culture since this is the land where the Arabic language was born. Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest countries that care about the Arabic language and poetry, not only in Saudi Arabia but, other Arab countries as well but, it is different from one country to another. People in the past were more concerned about the Arabic language, in fact, they translated so many books into Arabic and brought it to the middle east but, over the years the use of poetry and language became less important. In Saudi Arabia, we see the same exact culture that was 1400 years ago. However, if we compare different Arabic countries that also were concerned about the Arabic language, we will see a huge change. Taking Iraq into consideration, people use the translation of the English word itself rather than translating them to Arabic. The division of states and the change of culture had a lot of influence on the language. Another Example is, when Ottoman Empire was in control, most people started speaking Turkish and used Turkish phrases and words but, when Great Britain took over more people tended to say English phrases. Additionally, in Egypt people tend to say “Merci” which it means thank you in French. The reason why they use that word because Egypt was invaded by France during the late of the 1700s.

In conclusion, language is a union of traditions and acts that we practice every day and it is all based on the history. It is all incarnate in language. For me learning another language is like learning a new culture. Without culture, language would not exist. Last but not least, The language may seem of concern of only a few people, it should, in fact, concern everyone because language helps us express our identity, it is a repository of history. lastly, we need diversity in our society because Cultural diversity is important in our country and schools. It is consist of multiple cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. We can learn from each other about the differences of our experience in life.