Language Matters
The title of the reading says it
all: Language Matters. It has been
mentioned that one of the many challenges that we might face in participating
in intercultural discussion or situation is coping with the differences in
languages. It is unavoidable that although both conversational partners speak
in the same language, they don’t always speak the same “language”. It is
important to note their cultural backgrounds, which may affect the way they
speak or choose the words they utter in that language.
The reading presents three major
characteristics that affect our attitudes toward language differences and their
influence on intercultural communication. The first one is the accent. It has
been said that accents is the most revealing among language behaviors since
listeners have clear attitudes on those who speak “differently”. An example of
this is Manny Pacquiao’s accent when he speaks in English. Looking at his
background, he is not a native English speaker. He becomes prone to judgment
whenever he is interviewed and answers in English. It is evident that we
prejudge others in unflattering ways based on the accent alone.
The second characteristic is
speech styles. This refers to a speaker’s choice of words or grammatical phrase
which may lead to harmful and erroneous prejudgments. For example, A Batangueño
asks “Nakain ka na ba ng adobong manok?” For those Tagalog or Filipino speakers
who don’t have a background on Batangas, a misinterpretation may occur and that
Batangueño may potentially be a source of laughter. But for them, the word
‘nakain’ is ‘nakakain’ in Tagalog.
The third and last
characteristic is speech rates. As mentioned, “Speakers naturally vary in the
number of words or syllables they utter per minute. This can be a function of
their personality, age, situation or fluency in a nonnative language”.
The characteristics presented
may be a source of language-based discriminations. We oftentimes think that one
is superior to the other just because he/she speaks with a standard accent or
that because he/she has a powerful speech style, or because he/she speaks
faster fluently.
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