Communication Between Cultures

• When a child finds money on the playground and his parents ask him to return
  the funds, the child is learning about honesty.


• When as part of his school day a young child in North Korea is told to point his
  wooden gun at a picture of an American, he is learning about hatred.
  In these examples, people are learning their culture through various forms of com-
  munication. That is why we said that culture is communication and that communica-
  tion is culture. You have now seen that people learn most of their culture through
  communication. Through interaction with other members of their culture, they
  begin to assimilate the rules, norms, values, and language of their culture. We should
  summarize a few conclusions about culture before we continue with our specific dis-
  cussion of how it is learned. First, learning about your culture usually takes place with-
  out your being aware of it. Second, the essential messages of a culture get reinforced
  and repeated. Third, you learn your
  culture from a large variety of sources,
  with family, school, church, and
  community being the four most pow-
  erful institutions of culture. So signif-
  icant are those four institutional
  carriers of culture that we will detail
  their specific influences later in the book. But for now, let us look at a few of the
  “messages”those institutions bring to each generation.

Learning Culture Through Proverbs. Even before a very young child can read, that child is

hearing“lessons about life”transmitted through proverbs.“Whether called maxims,

truisms, clichés, idioms, expressions, or sayings, proverbs are small packages of truth

about a people’s values and beliefs.”^32 Olajide notes the significance of proverbs to a

culture when he writes,“Proverbs are an aspect of culture cherished all over the world

and preserved in language which is the medium for expressing them. Also, proverbs

have psychological, cosmological and sociocultural roots.”^33 These are, in a sense,

regarded as storehouses of a culture’s wisdom. Proverbs are so important to culture

that there are even proverbs about proverbs. A German proverb states,“A country

can be judged by the quality of its proverbs,” and the Yoruba of Africa teach,

“A wise man who knows proverbs, reconciles difficulties.”Both of these proverbs

emphasize the idea that you can learn about a people through their proverbs. These

proverbs—communicated in colorful, vivid language and with very few words—reflect

the insights, wisdom, biases, and even superstitions of a culture.

Proverbs are learned early and easily and repeated with great regularity. Because

they are brief, their influence as“teachers”is often overlooked. Yet many religious

traditions use proverbs to express important messages about life. The Book of Proverbs

in the Old Testament represents a collection of moral sayings and“wisdom”intended

to assist the reader to behave in a particular and honorable way. Chinese philosophers

such as Confucius, Mencius, Chung Tzu, and Lao-tzu also used proverbs and maxims

to express their thoughts to their disciples. These proverbs survive so that each gener-

ation can learn what their culture deems significant.“Proverbs reunite the listener

with his or her ancestors.”^34 Seidensticker notes that“[proverbs] say things that people

think important in ways that people remember. They express common concerns.”^35

The value of proverbs as a reflection of a culture is further underscored by the fact

that “interpreters at the United Nations prepare themselves for their extremely

CONSIDER THIS

Which ten words do you believe best describe your culture?

Characteristics of Culture 45

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).