The lecture is about three main ideas: whose language, which context, and whose meaning. English is a common language across language groups, however, it’s not connected with “ English Language” nations. Locally, English takes on culture around them. Globally, English is recognized as a tool of cultural communication as much as ideas. Therefore, we can say that English belongs to everyone but owned by no one. Consequently, there is no native speakers.
There are three realities of English mentioned by the lecturer. First, language is natural and without signal of decline. Attitudes to language are defined by those with social cultural power. Second, the more English we get in a country, the less internationally comprehensible it may become, ever within the English first language countries. Third, the majority of “ Native Speakers” are native in a non-standard variation of English. It is important to understand how our perception depends on our cultural experience because the way we behave is dictated by the way we perceive the world.
The perception is the way we sensed and understood by selection, categorization and interpretation. However, with different cultures, people will perceive and interpret others’ behaviors in different ways, which may easily lead to construction of stereotypes. The way in which people communicate is influenced by the values they hold. However, most miscommunication doesn’t arise through mispronunciation or through misuse of grammar, but lies in differences in patterns of discourse arising from beliefs, values, social structures etc. Though pragmatic failure and cultural clashes cannot be eliminated, it can be minimized by multicultural education. For effective cross cultural communication, we should develop our awareness of not only our assumptions and how they impact on our use of language, but also how differing cultural assumptions may affect others communication.