Rui Chenggang is a prominent CCTV presenter (English Channel) who recently returned from a year long exchange study at Yale University where he was awarded "Yale University World Fellow" .
In the following extract of an interview with him, he shares his experience in a new country. One of the topics he touches on is that in participating first hand in a different culture has made him appreciate that to truly learn any given language, one needs more than learning the words in isolation but it is equally important to gain insight into the given cultural norms and values.
One example he gave is it was quite a revelation - that people there use the expression "I'll kill you" in a humorous manner of which is unthinkable in the Chinese culture. ...所以大家学英语绝对不是简单的背一点单词，而且对它的文化的理解，更多理解语言背后的东西，语言背后的文化，我 曾经写过一个博客，开过一个幽默，就是那此那种话好好感受一下语言背后文化的东西，比如中国人不会说谁谁杀了谁，而西方人就会说 "Kill you"，所以要尽可能了解语言别后的文化...
If you are interested, the full interview can be viewed from CCTV.com
Each language articulates or organises the
world differently because different cultures take on different
emotions and attitudes when they conceptualise their experiences
or ideas and these are transmitted through their languages.
We must be equipped with an intercultural awareness besides
the language itself because target readers’ expectations
differ by their linguistic conventions as well as their cultural
norms... read more about this blog
