Some people think that a person can never understand the culture of a country unless they speak the language. To what extend do you agree or disagree?

Culture
can be defined not only by the
language
of a
country
but
also
by the typical food, literature, art and history. Some people believe
that is
essential to speak the
language
of a
country
in order to fully understand its
culture
. From my point of view, speaking the
country
’s
language
can help to understand its
culture
, but is not the only pre-requisite.
However
, I believe the customs of a society can be understood by reading about their past, looking at their architecture and by trying their typical food Several countries have totally different cultures despite sharing the same mother tongue,
such
as Portugal and Brasil, Spain and Mexico, The United Kingdom and The United States.
Therefore
their
language
doesn’t define their
culture
. To speak the
language
of a
country
may help to communicate with the locals and to discover details that are not written in books or easily found on the internet, but
this
can
also
be achieved by taking other paths. In Berlin,
for example
, one can notice modern buildings in the middle of old and partial destroyed ones, these details show a city that was rebuilt after a big war that became part of those people
culture
.
In addition
, the cuisine can
also
give valuable clues about how that society lived in the past. The famous Italian Pizza, which is made by a random selection of ingredients on a dough, was created to avoid wasting cooking,
this
can depict that Italians were a poor society sometime in the past.
Furthermore
, studying the literature and visiting museums can
also
contribute to learning about the customs Time is another important factor that helps to understand the
culture
. The longer someone spends in a foreign
country
, the closer he or she is to fully
understanding
Change the verb
understand
show examples
its
culture
. It can take years to have the chance to try different dishes, look at the architecture from other perspectives and visit most of the museums. For
this
reason, an immigrant that had the chance not just to get in contact with locals but
also
to live like them will be closer to fully
understand
Wrong verb form
understanding
show examples
their
culture
, than a tourist that has just spent one weekend visiting the city. In conclusion, to understand the
culture
of a
country
, it might help to speak its
language
but is not essential. Spending the necessary time in the place and trying different dishes, visiting enough museums to understand the History, getting lost in the streets and observing the details of the architecture, in my opinion, contribute much more to
understand
Wrong verb form
understanding
show examples
the
culture
of a
country
than to speak its
language
.
Submitted by m.aen.guiomar on

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