A SENSE OF ENGLISH

Language and Culture

A friend of mine got a text from a Korean friend of his recently that read, “I wanna c in my dream”. Yes, there was a romantic meaning intended. It was supposed to read “I wanna c YOU in my dream.”

To be fair, that was a mistake that an English person could easily have made. Apart from absent-mindedness being a possible cause, texting on a mobile phone lends itself to that type of error.

Still, it was worth pointing out to the person who wrote the text what it actually meant. “I wanna see in my dream”, i.e. I don’t want to be blind!

Let’s excuse the text mistake and talk about some other classic mistakes that Asian students commonly make and that are more important.

“In my country we don’t need to tip taxi drivers but IN HERE you do.” IN HERE, in this sentence, is supposed to mean in England. I’ve heard this many times from Koreans.

“In here” can never refer to a country. We just say “here”, or “in England”, but never “in here”.

While we’re on this one, we also never say “In my England”. That’s another one I’ve heard escape Korean lips before (saying “in my Korea”.) As lovely and patriotic as it sounds, it doesn’t work in English. England is not mine!

We can, however, say, “in my country” or, if we were feeling some deep emotion in a given moment, we could say “in my homeland”. This will usually convey a love and a longing for our country.

Japanese often misuse the word “maybe” in English. “Maybe” is used in English when we are genuinely not sure about something.

I once asked a Japanese student if he had passed his First Certificate exam. His answer was “maybe”.

When I asked him, he had already received the result, and he had passed. By saying “maybe” he thought he was showing some modesty, but actually in English using “maybe” in this way doesn’t make any sense at all.

This sort of difference can make communication confusing! All of you living in England have a story like that to tell, where you were not understood by native speakers, even though you thought what you had said was clear.

There is a very important link between language and culture, and it’s fascinating. It accounts for a lot of these sorts of mistakes and misunderstandings. That’s why when living in England, don’t limit yourself to just studying language.

This is extremely important. I have met students who haven’t bothered to go to London or don’t know the history behind Guy Faulkes (5th November). This is a Big Mistake in my book.

Understanding English culture deeply will help you understand why certain things are expressed in the way that they are.

The whole experience of learning another language is greatly enhanced when it includes first-hand experience of the culture. My readers here are living in the UK, so you can all experience English culture every day.

A lot of classic mistakes would not be made repeatedly (as they are) if more time were spent interacting with native English speakers on their home soil.

Time and experience will help you to see the connections between the way English people express concepts and their view of the concept itself.

All languages express the same concepts, but in different ways. Those differences, when analyzed, tell us a lot about the people behind the language.

This is a big subject and we’ll look at some more next time. Before next month’s edition, spend some time thinking of some examples of what we’ve been considering here.

Explore the depth of your target language English and its link to culture. It’s fascinating.