Language and Culture from a Chinese-American Perspective. A guest post by Kyle Luke.

        When people hear the word “language,” they generally think of vocal languages such as English, French, Arabic, Mandarin, or Cantonese.  To most people language is just a way that people communicate with each other.  Yet language is much more than that; language can provide valuable insight into the way that cultures work and what is generally considered most important to them.  Whether it is the person’s body language, mannerisms, or speaking style, it clearly reflects a lot about the individual and their personality.   It also demonstrates a lot about how the person was raised and the morals and lessons that were instilled on the individual.  Take me, for example; as a Chinese American I have seen a good amount of these differences. 

Now I was born here in the United States, my parents spoke English to me at home, and I only learned a little bit of Cantonese and Taishanese from my grandparents when they babysat me.  Some of my earliest memories are of my grandparents teaching me my Chinese name. I soon noticed that my Chinese name had my family name first followed by my given name while my English name has my given name first followed by my family name.  When I asked my grandparents about this, they told me it was because, like most eastern countries, China puts a lot of emphasis on honoring your ancestors and those who are older.  They told me that having the family name first is a reminder that everything I do reflects on my parents and my family.  Even today I find that I still have the body language and mannerisms that were instilled in me by my family.  An example of this is something incredibly subtle but I am sure most people will realize that I did it to them as well when we first met after reading this.  When I first meet someone I always stand up; smile, look the person in the eyes, and shake the person’s hand telling them my name.  What people don’t usually perceive is that I also subconsciously give a slight bow as I reach out to shake their hand.  I believe this is just my way of demonstrating to the person who I am meeting that I am pleased to meet them and that I respect them.  This probably carried over from when I met my grandparents’ friends as a child, as I was told to bow to them and introduce myself. 

I have also found that there is a noticeable difference in vocal language between western and eastern languages; for example, in the Japanese culture there are multiple ways of saying “no.”  As the Japanese language is extremely polite, using a large number of honorifics, it is also considered extremely rude to give a blatant “no” to someone.  Therefore, the translation for the way that a Japanese individual would say they did not want to do something is similar to “I could but it would be difficult,” which would be understood for someone who knows Japanese as “no,” but for an English speaker who does not know about the Japanese culture this could be understood as a “maybe” or even a “yes.”  This is a perfect example of how just knowing the translations from one language to another are not enough to understand the individual’s meaning.  To fully understand another language one must also understand the culture and the significance behind the language.