The article is about urgency of problems intercultural communications in modern conditions. The language does not exist out of culture as socially inherited set of practical skills and the ideas characterizing our way of life. As one of kinds of human activity, language appears a component of the culture defined as set of results of human activity in different spheres of human life: industrial, public, spiritual.
If to consider language from the point Language - a culture mirror, in it is reflected not only the real world surrounding the person, not only real conditions of his life, but also public consciousness of the people, its mentality, national character, a way of life, traditions, customs, morals, system of values, attitude, world vision.
Language a treasury, a pantry, a culture coin box. It stores cultural values in lexicon, in grammar, in idiomatic, in proverbs, sayings, in folklore, in the art and scientific literature, in forms of written and oral speech.
Language - the transmitter, the culture carrier, it transfers treasures of the national culture stored in it, from generation to generation. Seizing the native language, children acquire together with it and the generalized cultural experience of previous generations.
Language the tool, the culture tool. It forms the person of the person, the native speaker, through imposed to it language and put in pawn in language world vision, mentality, the relation to people, etc., that is through culture of the people using given language as means of dialogue.
Thus, language does not exist out of culture as socially inherited set of practical skills and the ideas characterizing our way of life. As one of kinds of human activity, language appears a component of the culture defined as set of results of human activity in different spheres of human life: industrial, public, spiritual. However as the form of existence of thinking and, the main thing as means of dialogue language ranks with culture [2:48].
of view of its structure, functioning and ways of mastering by it (both native, and foreign) socio cultural layer, or the culture component, appears a part of language or a background of its real life.
At the same time a culture component it is not simple the certain cultural information informed by language. This integral property of language inherent in all its levels and all branches.
Language the powerful public tool forming a human stream in ethnos, forming the nation through storage and transfer of culture, traditions, public consciousness of the given speech collective.
The first place among national-specific components of culture occupies language. Language first of all promotes that the culture can be both dialogue means, and means of dissociation of people. Language is a sign on an accessory of its carriers to certain society. As the basic specific sign of ethnos it is possible to look at language from two parties: in a direction „ inside" and then it acts as a primary factor of ethnic integration; in a direction „outside", and in this case it the basic ethno differentiating sign of ethnos [1:75].
Thus, a language and culture parity a difficult and multidimensional question.
The urgency of all questions connected with culture, has got now an unknown sharpness. Heightened interest to studying of cultures of the different people, promotion on the foreground of the cultural science still recently dragging pity existence on boondocks of history, philosophy, philology; its allocation in a scientific specialty the Higher certifying commission of Kazakhstan; creation of specialized academic councils for protection candidate and theses for a doctor's degree on cultural science; a stream of publications on a theme of dialogues and especially conflicts of cultures; creation of societies, the associations uniting researchers of problems of culture; infinite conferences, symposiums, the congresses concerning culture; inclusion of cultural science and anthropology in the curriculum of preparation of experts in all humanitarian directions and even in high school programs; at last, already mentioned known prediction With. Huntington about the third world war as to war of cultures and civilizations all it testifies to the present boom, explosion of interest to culture problems.
Unfortunately, behind this boom are covered not only both not so much noble and creative motives of interest to other cultures, aspiration to enrich the culture with experience and originality of others, how many absolutely other reasons, sad and disturbing. Last years social, political and economic shocks of a world scale have led to unknown migration of the people, their resettlement, moving, collision, mixture, that, certainly, leads to the conflict of cultures.
At the same time scientific and technical progress and efforts of a reasonable and peaceful part of mankind open all new possibilities, kinds and dialogue forms, the main which condition of efficiency is mutual understanding, dialogue of cultures, tolerance and respect for culture of partners in communications.
All is together taken both disturbing, and encouraging and has led to especially steadfast attention to questions of intercultural dialogue. However, these questions eternal, they excited mankind from time immemorial. As the proof we will recollect one proverb. Proverbs fairly consider as popular wisdom clots, that is that national cultural experience which is stored in language and passes from father to son.
Russian proverb, live, common, not lost, unlike many other things, the urgency, learns: Do not come in the stranger monastery with your own Charter. Its analogue in English language expresses the same thought in other words: When in Rome, do as Romans do [Having arrived to Rome, do as Romans]. So in each of these languages popular wisdom tries to warn that now it is accepted to name the term the conflict of cultures.
Word-combination it, unfortunately, now «in a fashion» for already mentioned sad reasons: in the conditions of social, political and economic conflict numerous refugees, immigrants, repatriates suffer from conflicts to «another's charter» even in a safe economic situation.
What is the conflict of cultures? Why began possible to speak about war of cultures?
To understand an essence of the term the conflict of cultures, ponder upon Russian word the foreign. Its internal form is absolutely transparent: from other countries. Native, not from other countries, the culture unites people and simultaneously separates them from other, another's cultures. In other words, the native culture is and a board protecting a national originality of the people, and the deaf fence which is fencing off from other people and cultures.
All world shares thus on, united language and culture of people and on the strangers who do not know language and culture. By the way, that indisputable fact, that for the various socio historical reasons English language became the main international means of dialogue and consequently millions people for which this language nonnative, not only has brought to the English-speaking world huge political, economic and other advantage use it, but also has as though deprived this world of a board: has made its culture opened, paraded to all other mankind. At national love of Englishmen to closeness «my house my fortress» is it is represented a certain paradox and a twist of fate. Their national house has opened all on light through English language.
Ancient Greeks and Romans of all people of other countries and cultures named barbarians from Greek barbarous 'the stranger'. The word this onomatopoeic also is directly connected with nonnative language: another's languages were perceived on hearing as muffled a bar-barbar (compare Russian bolo-bol).
In Old Russian language of all foreigners named a word the German. Englishmen Russian proverb of XII century here is how characterizes: Aglinsky Germans are not profit people, but like to fight. Subsequently this word has been superseded by a word the stranger, and the word meaning the German was narrowed to only those foreigners who came from Germany. It is interesting, that a root of a word the German it from mute, that is the German is mute, not able to speak (not knowing our language) the person. At the heart of definition of the foreigner its inability to speak on native, in this case Russian, inability to express verbally (the barbarian compare), thus, laid. The stranger from another's earths and then the foreigner from other countries, come in the stead to the German, have rearranged accent from mastery of a language on an origin: from another's earth, from other countries. The sense of this word becomes full and clear in opposition: Native, foreign, that is the stranger alien, accepted in other countries. In this opposition collision between and another's charter is put already in pawn, that is the conflict of the cultures, therefore all combinations to words foreign or the foreigner assume this conflict.
The most obvious examples of collisions of cultures are given by simply real dialogue with foreigners both in their country, and in the native. Such conflicts generate set of funny things, jokes, ridiculous plots, troubles, dramas and even tragedies.
The close connection and interdependence of teaching of foreign languages and intercultural communications are so obvious, that hardly require vast explanations.
Each lesson of a foreign language is a crossroads of cultures, it is practice of intercultural communications because each foreign word reflects the foreign world and foreign culture: behind each word costs caused by national consciousness (besides foreign, if a word foreign) representation about the world.
Teaching of foreign languages in Kazakhstan worries nowadays, as well as all other spheres of a social life, the hardest and most complicated period of radical reorganization, revaluation of values, revision of the purposes, problems, methods, materials, etc. It is not meaningful to speak now about huge changes in this sphere, about boom of public interest, about motivation explosion, about a basic change in the relation to this subject for quite certain socio historical reasons is all too obviously.
The new time, new conditions have demanded immediate and radical revision both the general methodology, and concrete methods and receptions of teaching of foreign languages. These new conditions "opening" of Kazakhstan, its prompt occurrence in the world community, mad jumps of a policy, economy, culture, ideology, mixture and moving of the people and languages, change of relations between Russian and the foreigners, absolutely new purposes of dialogue all it should put new problems in the theory and practice of teaching of foreign languages.
So, language is the mirror showing not the world in general, and the world in perception of the person. The world in this case is a reality surrounding the person. Simultaneously in a language mirror the person, its way of life, its behavior, mutual relations with other people, system of values, culture the world in the person is reflected also. Language as a mirror reflects both worlds: out of the person, that is what surrounds it, and in the person, that is what is created by him.
Language, thus, is a magic mirror in which the human worlds are concluded, external and internal, a mirror not objective, not is indifferent-passionless.
At the same time language is also the tool, the tool forming the person. All of us are created by language and the culture put in pawn in it which have got to us from many generations of ancestors. We do not choose neither the native language, nor native culture, neither a place, nor birth time. We enter into the world of people, and language immediately begins the work, imposing to us representation about the world (a world picture), about people, about system of values, about ways of a survival. We still do not have choice. We captives of the language. Resistance is useless, language the skilful and skilled master, «the engineer of human souls» has already created millions citizens and creates the new.
Having received this invaluable gift which has incorporated all huge world both external, and internal, we start the main business to dialogue, communications with other people as the person the being public and lives among people. All our life both in big, and in small, both in the present, and in the future depends on that, how much well, effectively and correctly we are able to communicate.
Reference
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- ЮУ. Ethnos and ethnography. М, 1975, p. 48.Cultures. Novosibirsk, 1989, with. 75.
- M. Vereschagin, V.G. Kostomarov.Language and culture. М, 1990, p. 26.
- Sepir. Language. Introduction in speech studying//the Selected works on linguistics and cultural science, p. 185.
- Н. Robins. General Linguistics. An Introductory Survey. London, 1971, p. 27.