Interculturality and the English Language as lingua franca in Brazil

  Interculturality and the English Language as lingua franca in Brazil

 Augusto Neves, 2024

 Interculturality means, according to Cambridge Dictionary, “a set of relationships and ways of behaving that develop in groups whose members come from different cultures…”. A language it’s a cultural good, in our case English as a lingua franca can also be considered as transferring our roots, in general a language isn’t pure but rather a mix of other languages as well, that’s why when studying another language we can realise familiarities especially if you speak a language with european roots duo the imperialism and colonialism through the history.

 

 So, in the case of English as a lingua franca your accent it’s welcome. In a global scenario in Brazil there is the presence of English, as a fruit of globalisation some languages may be born or be modified, think about those words: download, likes, wifi, hot dog, fake news and internet. Those are English words, even though there are loads of traditionalists out there who claim that a language has to be pure, Raja a linguistic has stated somewhere that this is kind of impossible that the language it's pure, specially in the case of european languages based and it’s something that we can avoid. Besides, in my opinion, it shouldn't be avoided. Language is alive.

 In the USA pants means trousers in the UK, in Brazil pen drive means a flash card and notebook means laptop. This is an example of interculturality, it means that there a varieties of the English language in each country that why sometimes a communication with a foreigner tend to be hard because the varieties, of course it’s important to know that in a “standard” or referential English how to speak to avoid misunderstanding, but varieties do exist but it doesn’t mean that saying “notebook” relating to laptop it’s incorrect but rather how people use English in Brazil even though it’s hard to find people speaking in English only at the streets, this is a lingua franca.

 Now, as we are talking about Brazil, the interculturality it’s not only related to the English language but other cultures in general, it can be related to traditions, stories, religion, folklore, trends and everything that it’s related to arts. As the author Wang (2011) states that the  language it’s a culture good and the author even mentions the fact that for some sociologists it’s through culture that language exists.

 

 WORKING WITH INTERCULTURALITY ON THE CLASSROOM:

 It depends on the teacher's knowledge, how much do we know about it? How can we teach respect and inclusion with interculturality? 

 The BNCC defines that interculturality is the recognition of linguistic varieties in a global world, since we are working with Lingua Franca it makes sense. Interculturality goes beyond what it’s explicit in the BNCC document, it’s a very broad topic and following the example of Wang (2011) he states the cultural differences of the chinese culture and the English language, how words and social functions of how to be polite and express gratitude by saying “thank you” can be different from one society to another including what they say and how. As the author also says, it’s hard to judge but the comparison is a way to look at ourselves and at others, realising that what may sound common to me can be pretty awkward or unusual to another culture. Hence, language in a global context can be problematic and requires a lot of respect. It's not a matter of criticising and choosing which culture it’s better.

 

 I’m going to be very honest, but in general we can’t ignore the fact that interculturality it’s present when we are learning another language and culture. We cannot deny how to order food requires using a different vocabulary such as “would” or “could mind” to express politeness rather than“I want” which will sound too straight to the point or even impolite. 

And now, to work in the classroom I perceive that this isn’t something easy to find on the English textbooks but for me we can highlight those examples of language and culture by using digital technologies such as the Youtube, BBC learning English, British Council, National Theatre (British), TED talks, advertisement, the media in general such as social media post and meme. I know that they are very cliche apps, since it’s difficult to find something ready for us to work. I think that it will require creativity and the curiosity to learn different cultures because for me this has to come from us, from our input as well. 

HOW ABOUT YOU:

HOW DO YOU GET UPDATED WITH DIFFERENT CULTURES?

DO YOU KNOW ANY APP WHERE WE CAN USE IT TO TEACH ABOUT CULTURES?

Please, put your thoughts in the comments bellow,

Ta, xx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REFERENCES:

WANG, Jin. Cultural differences and the English teaching. English Language Teaching. Vol. 4, No. 2; 2011.

BRASIL. Ministry of Education. Base Nacional Curricular Comum. MEC. Base nacional comum: Introdução. Available at <http://basenacionalcomum.mec.gov.br/abase/#introducao> accessed on 06/02/2024 at 18:05