Language as a key to culture

I believe that the term ‘culture’ could be defined as a set of abstract ideas (religious beliefs, moral principles, intellectual concept, philosophies etc.) that are commonly adopted by a social group and used by this group – consciously or not – as a basis for its behavioral patterns.

Of course, this paradigm is much larger but I try to highlight the most important part of it to understand the difficulties one may encounter when it comes to intercultural communication. Evidently, it is not a big problem to adopt your own culture even without understanding it – just do what everybody does around you, and everything will be okay. A child is capable of exploring the world, true; however, the most important information that finally forms culture is provided to him or her by means of language. This is the point: language is a medium of culture; therefore, it is a key to understanding any culture, even your own.

As to the principles of my culture, they are very easy to name. Briefly, I am Russian. Russia is a mix of regional cultures, different languages and religions, so am I. I am not religious but I was brought up on the Russian Orthodox Church and Soviet moral principles. Sometimes, it sounds like an oxymoron but it is true, nevertheless. I can spend more time dreaming about a bright future than doing something for it. I can be a bit unpredictable and spontaneous (I am not sure if it is either related to culture or personality). I am very open with my friends but usually aggressive to strangers. I tend to underestimate myself. I do not really care about feelings – more about thoughts and deeds. I try to walk the talk and take one’s word.

Given that Russia is very similar to Canada in many ways, I easily settled in Montreal’s multinational environment. Despite the city is a citadel of immigrants from the every corner of the world; I can distinguish Canadian culture from all the rest. I see that the culture was founded a few hundred years ago by early settlers with French, English, Irish, and Scottish roots has now been shaped by
newcomers with different, sometimes even opposite, cultural patterns in mind, and I see the difference– it is huge.

I share Christian values; so, I accepted the majority of cultural patterns in Canada. No doubt, I have some problems understanding the differences I have been encountering in the new environment. Some of them come from the Canadian society’s norms, like those in the part of homosexual tolerance – I am not a homophobe but I cannot accept it as a norm. Others relate to communicating with immigrants from other countries.

The most important for any immigrant is to get a job but it is impossible without the ability to get along with people from different cultures. Sure, I am talking about the language – French, first of all. I had spent eight months learning it before I landed my first job. To be honest, I got my first job in an American company in the second week – in English, of course, but I resigned after a three weeks' training because… because I was ashamed of my English! Now it is in the past, and I communicate very well on business topics but I still quail when it comes to small talk, or, more important for me, humor and f-words.

To summarize, my priorities are the Canadian/Quebecois/Montreal cultural nuances, the Chinese approach to business communication, and the art of joking without making anybody offended.

Sunset on Cuba

J'aimerais partager cette belle expérience de trois minutes avec vous. (Suggéré de regarder en HD)

I would like to share this sunset with you. 3 minutes only. (suggest to watch in HD)