Language communicates what is meaningful to people as it is defined by a particular culture. And as students of the discipline know, what is meaningful in one culture, may or may not be meaningful in another. Language, therefore, represents an ethos of a culture, determining the mode of thought and values of a society and lifestyle. It exposes and highlights individual differences within and between cultures. Language limits our options of thought and expression since these notions are composed from it.
Language sets the parameters of what can be done with it.
The variety of ways in which people communicate their ideas and feelings reflect how they come to reconcile and perceive the external world. True understanding, according to Max Weber, can only be achieved through verstehen , understanding and appreciating how the actors them-selves conceive and interpret their actions. As the fundamental component of socialization, language affects perception and helps shape an individual s worldview. Culture teaches us to use language to depict our experiences in a manner relevant to our socio-cultural reality. In a sense, my language courses are teaching me to think about the world as a Spanish speaker.