The only way to have a meaningful interaction with a foreign culture is not simply to learn the language but to live within that culture for an extended period of time Write a response in which you examine your own position on the statement Explore the ex

Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, traditions and habits of the individuals in these groups. While language is a good place to start learning about foreign culture, it nowhere encompasses the whole experience. As such, the only way to have a meaningful interaction with a foreign culture is not simply to learn the language, but to live within that culture for an extended period of time.

First and foremost, you cannot fully learn about the traditions, customs or beliefs of a culture through language, and must learn them through experience. To think that learning a language gives you the experience of a whole culture shows an ignorant worldview. It would be equivalent to reading about badminton in a book and saying you know how to play the sport, or eating Chicken Tikka Masala and saying you’ve been to India. While it’s a good start to learn about a culture, there are various traditions and customs one does not truly experience unless one submerges oneself into the environment. For example, while it is possible to master the Japanese language from anywhere in the world, you can only understand the reverential culture and morals the Japanese embody when you’ve been to Japan yourself and interacted with the Japanese. This is why a lot of language or culture based majors offer study abroad options to their students — they acknowledge that learning about a culture and experiencing the culture is not the same.

Furthermore, the authenticity of a cultural experience is unbeatable when you live in that culture for a period of time. When you learn a culture through language, there might be differences between what the culture is in real life versus what you think the culture is in your mind. More often than not, experience is different from expectation. As such, to ensure that one truly understand what one learns in the classroom, living within a foreign culture will allow one to have a better picture of the subject itself. In another sense, you can argue that learning a language and living within that culture are complementary to each other. Learning a language is preparing yourself for a culture, while living within that culture is experiencing that culture itself.

Opponents might argue that language is the most important part of culture and that learning a language is enough education and experience in itself. As previously acknowledged, culture encompasses much more than language, so we need to experience it to know it. Any high schooler learning Spanish as a second language knows that learning the language in a classroom is completely different from conversing the language in Mexico or Spain. Additionally, opponents might also argue that not everyone has the financial capability of living in another country to truly learn their culture. While it is unfortunate that not everyone has the means, it still doesn’t change the fact that the classroom experience doesn’t cover the entire cultural experience.

In conclusion, in order to have a meaningful interaction with a foreign culture, one must live within that culture for an extended period, as there is much more to a culture than just the language itself.