Culture and Language (first "culture" blog)

[Stallone Mannan]

Culture is anything and everything that makes up a group of people. It is the characteristics they share which make them unique, or set them apart from other groups of people. These characteristics include, but are not limited to, type of music, food, language, customs, clothing, behavior, principles, morals, social norms, beliefs (religious or otherwise), values, interests, and activities. Cultures can apply to different countries, continents, states, cities, races, religions, ethnic groups, or even corporations, work environments, schools, teams, clubs, families, or basically any way that people are organized or relate to one another. Cultures are multi-dimensional and vary greatly. Some are static, while others evolve over time.Language can comprise a small part of a larger culture, or can be defined as a culture by itself. Characteristics of a culture can be seen in the way a language is spoken or written. For example, a strict culture may enforce strict rules in variances between who is doing the speaking and who is being spoken to, while a more relaxed culture will make less of a distinction. A more ‘simple’ culture may not have many vocabulary words for similar or the same things, while a more ‘advanced’ culture may have many words for essentially the same thing, or different words for slight differences in meaning. A culture which is a result of the mixing of many other cultures may have a language which borrows words from many other languages or has words with roots from other languages. Languages naturally embody the culture of the people who have created them over time.The language of Farsi is based on the very poetic culture of Iran. Writing is more poetic than informative at times. Speaking and writing are different. Speaking is more casual and less ‘poetic’, unless it is formal, in which case it would resemble more the poetic writing style. People try to write as if they are citing famous poetry. This will be a very interesting thing to observe as I learn Farsi.