I wa in an interesting discussion with a colleague today.  He speaks fluent French and some German in addition to English.  While I am not fluent  I have an understanding of Japanese, German, Spanish and French.

At the risk of promoting stereotypes, our discussion focused around the apparent ties between language and cultural behavior.  That is to some extent the language ( a cornerstone of communication within a given culture) reflects the behavioural norms of the culture.

For Example

Although entirely subjective, we came to some of the following assessments:

• English – focused on meaning and clarity.  Misusing the language or using incorrect gramatical structures can be overlooked in pursuit of the meaning.  Interestingly this is the language of International areonautics where clear meaning is critical.  In general English speakers are more direct and get to the point.

• French –  Considered a romance language, the focus is on the art and beauty of the words.  Not just what you say but how you say it, conjugation really matters and errors are noticed.  One adjective for the language as a whole might be “flowery” a phrase that goes with romance.

• Japanese – A common sterotype of Japanese culture is polite, disciplined and structured.  Based on my own knowledge ofJapanese from a grammar and syntax perspective there is no question it supports these cultural norms.  Phrasing everything with a focus on respect of others is required within every conversation.

These are just three examples of this point but we can and did go on exploring a number of languages from German and Greek to Urdu.   In each case we could map the most prominant cultural stereotypes to structure and phrasing within the associated language.

Not a stunning, nor earth shaking conclusion, but hpefully interesting.

.