Culture is Nothing Without Language

Language = Culture

I have always believed language is the gateway to human evolution.

To understand me all you have to do is ask yourself: "What would I be without language?"

This would lead to more questions such as: "Would I be living this life, in this place, with the people I know, doing the things that we do if we had no way of communicating with each other?"

The answer is probably no. For, what we are and where we came from can only be explained by a holistic understanding of language.

And how well we communicate with each other will dictate our future.



So what is language?

Right now I am reading a book that focuses on cultural anthropology. It is much like a handbook for understanding culture. But it does explain the answer to my question: "What is language?"

Essentially, language contains the symbols, gestures, characters, writings and oral verse that allows us to communicate with each other. From waving, smiling and drawing to newspapers, speeches and emoticons we have found ways to teach, warn, inform, harass, love and manipulate each other.

Without communication we could not warn others of danger. Without language we could not teach our children how to survive and cope with the dangers of the world around them.

It is clear my culture and your culture would not survive if we could not communicate.

Thus, whether we are consciously aware of it or not - we are bound by how well we can communicate with each other. This fact is the basis for many of my writings and the focus for a lot of my professional work with Internet Marketing and Human Optimization practices.



How does language become culture?

It's simple. We are taught language and through language we are taught our culture.

From the time we are children we are indoctrinated into something.

We are taught basic survival methods. We are taught how to act. We are taught how to love and hate. Whether we agree with this indoctrination into society or not (as informed adults) we are still culturally bound by it.

We can say that the methods of survival and behavior we learned are supplied by our culture. And our culture has evolved from the environment that it was raised in - which explains the very nature of cultural differences... and why misunderstandings are so easily made.



So what does the environment have to with language and culture?

I try to imagine myself as a farmer 500 years ago living in an area only suitable for growing crops. All I knew was farming. The most important thing in my life was farming and my farm family. Because of this environment farming meant 'money' and 'money' meant our survival. My life revolved around it and so it was for the others sharing it with me. Thus, a language farming language and culture was born.


The environment defines language and language defines culture.


As a culture, we are only as much as our environment allows us - like a parent-child relationship. From a parent-child point of view we can see deeper into the connection with our environment and with the earth. And the holistic relationship we have to each other as humans sharing the greater environment.