ntheImportanceofCulturalFactorsinOralEnglishStudying

XiongJuan

【Abstract】Language communication， in some way， is cultural communication， in order to have a better ability of communicating， students have to know and understand enough culture knowledge. This paper will analyze the relationship between language and culture， emphasize the importance of cultural factors in oral English studying.

【Key words】the relationship； language； culture； oral English studying；

1. The Definition of Language and Culture

1.1 What is language？

In the broad sense， language is any form of expressing while communicating， such as writing， speaking， gestures and dancing， and so on. In the narrow sense， language， for different people， may hold different definitions.

1.2 What is culture？

E.B. Taylor， in 1871， who provided the first profound scientific under-standing of the nature of the term， first defined the concept of culture， According to Taylor （1924）， culture is “That complex whole which includes knowledge， believe， morals， law， custom， and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then， scholars have all tried to define culture from different perspectives.

2. The Relationship between Language and Culture

2.1 Language is an Essential Part of Culture

Kramsch （2000） holds the idea that language is related with culture in three aspects. Firstly， language expresses reality of culture， what people saying are refer to common experience， and reflect their attitudes and believes. Secondly， language involves cultural reality. Except for what you really experience， language also can express the experience just like what it should be. Finally language symbolizes cultural reality. Language is a system of signs with cultural value. Speakers identify themselves and any others through the use of language； they regard language as a symbol of their social identities. According to the analysis， we can get the conclusion easily： language is an important part of culture. But why is it unique？ Because it lies in the fact that， as a symbol of culture， it merges other culture into itself and all levels of culture could be reflected by language.

2.2 Culture is the Foundation on Which Language Forms and Develops

Language forms on the basis of culture. With the development of culture， language is also accordingly involving. No culture， no language. Cultural factors are reflected in lots of linguistic phenomena such as lexical meanings and syntactic structure.

Vocabulary is the basic element of a language. What we say and how we express reflect our belief， attitudes， points of view held by the society members. The totally different cultural background and geographical locations decide various culture must appear， and those different form in the language. Such as words in Chinese related with Chinese culture， 中庸，無為而治，八股； contrasting with the enlightenment， epic， utopian and so on in English.

2.3 Culture is the Decisive Factor for Language Use

Most words have conceptual meanings at the same time with associative meanings. Conceptual meaning， which is the denotative meaning of a word， is the central factor in linguistic communication. Associative meanings are peripheral meanings that language conveys in addition to its conceptual meaning.

Take the color， black for an example， it has different meaning and ways of using in Chinese and English.

According to Chinese Character in Origins of Chinese Character（《說文解字》）written by Shen Xu， black refers to“火所熏之色也”（the black refers to the color smoked by fires）. In English， the definition of black in Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary is the color of carbon or dark night. Therefore， “black” refers to the specific color of objects， both in English and Chinese.

There are many factors influencing language use， of which culture is the most important. Knowing the culture is very important to avoid misunderstanding of that given language， since in different cultural context the same utterance may have different interpretations.

3. Conclusion

Culture factors undoubtedly play an important role in oral English studying. In order to have a better ability of communicating， we should pay more and more attention to the cultural differences in different countries， not only for students but also for teachers. Only after that， will we have a chance in improving oral English.

References：

[1]Brvgger，F(xiàn) C.1992.Culture，Language，Text：Culture Studies within the Study of English as a Foremen LanQUa}e.Oslo：Scandinavian University Press.

[2]Chen，Shen.1999.The Teaching of Culture in Foreign Language Beijing：Beijing Language and Culture University Press.