Language apart from its culture is dead

To fully understand and appreciate a language involves an understanding of the culture behind it, a writer for a newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago, a small Caribbean country, says. The writer, Kirk Meghoo, makes this observation:

We fail to understand that language is a means of expressing and giving meaning to historical experience. The Spanish language, for example, is built around Spanish religion, family structure, food, folk stories, entertainment, psychology, bull-fighting, literature, news, politics, proverbs, siestas, and a way of thinking. If we don't share this experience, the language will be cut of from its lifeblood, and simply be dead.

Meghoo also makes some other observations about language that are well worth noting. Read Meghoo's column... (Source: Trinidad & Tobago Express)