Language Is Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Language Is Culture - Essay Example In the modern world, it is a fact that languages of European origin, such as French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, are the most dominant with people from many countries speaking them, despite their not being their native tongues. It is because of this dominance in language that western culture has also gained dominance in the globe and as a result, there has developed an erosion of other cultures and their achievements. It is through language that human beings can be able to give voice to their achievements but this has not been the case, especially in the African perspective. When I read Diop’s book, I came to the conclusion that despite the fact that modern civilization has its origins among the ancient African nations, this claim to greatness has come to be marred by the dominance of languages of European origin. As a result of the dominance of their language, people of western origin are able to give voice to the achievements of their race to the detriment of the achie vements of others. That is the reason why I have come to subscribe to the statement made by Malcolm X in his autobiography that he had, â€Å"†¦no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight† (Malcolm and Haley, 2007). I have come to find that among the biggest concerns in many countries today is the fact that their future generations are going to be so much influenced by the western culture that they will no longer place any value on their own. Among the reasons for this has been the increasing preference of the younger generations to speak western languages over their local languages; a circumstance that many individuals in these feel will have implications on their people and culture. One would argue that if the study of local languages would be made compulsory in schools, many individuals, especially in the nonwestern parts of the world