Mohammed Bounda
SSK 1204
Dr. Ronesi
November 1, 2004
The Three Roles a Language Plays in an Inter-Cultural Diversity
Language is one of the most important components of any culture; however, it is one of the evident factors that create conflicts in intercultural diversity. In this paper are presented three roles that a language can play in an intercultural diversity. These three roles imply that: language gives superiority to one culture at the expense of another, using ethnic sluts in a situation is very negative, and mistranslating among different languages leads to misunderstanding of a culture to another.
Sometimes we find there are some people deriving from the same culture who use a language which is not theirs. Some people interpret this as a showing off; it is like if that person is saying:‘I can speak other languages;I am more civilized than you, the one who can’t’. This appears a lot in several situations, such as when some people find it more romantic to say ‘I love you’ instead of saying it in their own language, and also when others find speaking French more impressive to people they are addressing to. There are many other situations where we see the evidence of this phenomenon; however, the most exciting part in this process appears when people get angry and want to insult, they find it more expressive to do it using their own language instead of saying it in a foreign one because that brings them more satisfaction . In the essay ‘From Outside, In’, Barbara Mellix said: ‘But when we spoke standard English, we acknowledged (to ourselves and to others-but primarily to ourselves) that our customary way of speaking was inferior’ (Melix,1987,page 260). Analyzing this sentence proves the idea I have suggested. In this example Black Americans use Standard English because they feel their language is inferior. This impliesthat maybe using this kind of English makes them to feel superior.
Since every culture is trying to prove its superiority, sometimes we find ,particularly if cultures are exposed to each other, that every side has some words used calling or describing the other ( in their music, jokes, insults...), which is either for the purpose of making fun of the other, or for showing his weaknesses etc... For example the reading ‘The Price of Hate: Thoughts on Covering a Ku Klukh Klan Rally’ is discussing this issue in America between two ethnic groups, black and white Americans. But it’s focusing on the side of what descriptions white Americans assign to black ones. Rachel L. Jones, the author of this paper, played intelligent in avoiding the use of some bad words, said to her. Instead of using the complete words in her article, she used dots. From my point of view I think she is trying to prove white Americansignorant and not well behaved. Even if she didn’t say anything directly, she did say it in a hidden way. This reading is an example of conflicts between two cultures that are exposed to each other. Each part is trying to show its pride by displaying the weaknesses ofothers.
Cultures got to know each other through translation. Translation played an important role in exchanging ideas and thoughts among cultures; however, it could fail sometimes especially when the translator is biased or tries to interpret or translate word by word. The following examples illustrate the previous idea: there are some jokes in my culture that are funny, but may not sound so in other cultures. I see this whenever some members of my family who were born and live overseas, come to Morocco every summer and we tell each other jokes. I notice every time that their jokes are different from ours, there are some jokes they laugh to death when telling them to each other, but I find these so normal. In the reading ‘ Ensuring fair in inter-Cultural Encounters—A Translator’s Perspective’ the authors Malcolm P. William and Abdelmalek Essaadi, demonstrated the importance of translator in the nineteenth century and set some of the problems that inter-cultural diversity may face with the translation, such as translating Arabic direct speech in novels. ‘in translating Arabic novels into English, one of the challenges that the translator frequently faces is how to translate the many greetings, exclamations and idiomatic expressions that occur’ (William, Essaadi,2001,page 2). The translator requests would succeed only if he masters both languages and their cultures.
Comparing the three roles a language can play in inter-cultural diversity stated in this paper, we notice that they all have similar outcome, which is disintegration of the mother cultures. When someone is trying to prove his superiority by speaking a foreigner language, this means he refuses his integration in his own culture and adopts a different one. For the second role, which is using ethnic sluts, it explains that no culture does want to integrate with another by looking only at its bad sides. ForTranslation, which is the third role, it differs from other roles because it’s a failure of the mediator who is tries to present one culture to another.
The three roles we have seen in this paper are not the only ones, but they are the major among others. A language is deeply associated with its own culture. There is no language without a culture as there is no culture without a language; they both depend on each other. All cultures should accept differences among each other, as we want to be respected being different, we should respect the others being different. There in no better culture than another, there is only a culture that differs from the other.
References:
Essaadi A. William M. P., (2001), fair play in inter-cultural encounters: do we need a tertium comparationis? – A translators prospective. Retrieved November, 1st 2004, from
Mellix B. (1987). From outside In. retrieved from Georgia Review Journal.Georgia Review.
Jones L. Rachel, (1991).The price of hate: thoughts on covering a Ku Klukh Klan rally. Boston. Bacon A.