Every human being on the face of the earth is born into a culture of the local community. In this case, culture is the collective experiences of people with the same history, a shared environment, and the language by which they express themselves.
Language is the recognizable identity of a culture. Although it may be dynamic, evolving with changing times and new experiences, it never strays far from its parent culture as they shape how one thinks, speaks, and writes.
Cultural influence on perception
Perception forms awareness in a person and how, in turn, they understand and interpret a situation they encounter. Perception, on the other hand, is fashioned by the culture in which a person is born or adopted at an early age.
The cultural background heavily influences a person’s thinking, understanding, interpretation, and subsequent verbal or written expression regardless of the language.
This cultural impact is especially noticeable when one is writing in a second language. They will first perceive the concept in their culturally influenced first language before transcribing in the second. Readers native to the second language may have a challenge trying to understand the style of delivery and idiomatic formulation of the content.
Similar things happen when you are writing assignments, whether as a local or a foreign student. EduBirdie has a great reputation and you can find your best essay service here. Bridging the gap between not doable and doable is the expertise of their writers, whether they write a thesis or dissertation.
Cultural, thought, and language influence writing
Culture influences thought and, in turn, the language by which one expresses it, verbal or written. However, it is not always that people strictly think in their native language or conversely that an entire thought finds expression in language. Sometimes people may understand and think about things without corresponding words for them.
This situation also creates a need to develop words by which to describe the new phenomenon that has not been a part of one’s culture.
Such is the case with the phenomenal rise and acceptance of the k-pop music culture among Korean youth. Collaboration between Korean education and K-pop helped the growth of the new entertainment art in society through the teaching of media texts and digital languages for easier communication.
Cultural idioms in communication
The use of idioms and hyperbole is inherently a cultural development and unique to the people communicating. However perfect you may be in a second language, the temptation to infuse hyperboles and idiomatic expressions from your experiences will be great. Audiences from the same background reading your writing in the second language will have no problems understanding.
However, the language’s native speakers will have a problem understanding your writing despite its rendition in perfect grammar. Since the onus of effective communication is on the writer, it is important to understand the cultural background of the audience and write in terms familiar to them.
A good writer must read extensively to assimilate the cultural perspectives of the second language he or she writes in for effective communication. Different cultures have disparities in contextual understanding and expression and this has a direct bearing on speech and writing that a writer must internalize to rise above cultural limitations.
Writing through the lens of your culture
How you write about and for others will wholly depend on your views about them. These views or opinions about others are a direct influence of your cultural background and stubbornly survive even the highest levels of education.
You grow up among your people imbibing their characterization of the rest of the world and you subconsciously adopt the same biases and perceptions when writing.
Currently, the world has multiple sets of sensibilities and correctness when addressing certain issues. A writer from a more conservative cultural background may not write with appropriate correctness when addressing matters concerning the LGBTQ society, for instance. It will take time, practice, and a radical change in their mindset to appreciate this different culture to write in an inoffensive way.
Conclusion
The world is shrinking into one household on the internet while mostly adopting English as the language of communication. Online content and business communication, including emails, are in English as east meets west and the cultural disparity is becoming a major factor in the clarity of this medium as well. There is a need now more than ever to train and formulate writing standards to create uniformity in usage.
Author’s Bio
Bobbie Sanchez works as a global marketing operations manager for a SaaS firm. She works with a diverse team and coordinates their activities to meet business goals. She’s also a brilliant academic writer and assists research students in writing their thesis and dissertations. In her free time, she plays tennis, takes dance classes and loves solving puzzles.
