Blog 8 paige

How can the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis help explain your communication with the kids at Neque?

The Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis explains that the language of a group helps shape their culture. What is difficult to understand about this theory is that language is a part of culture. While I have not previously studied this hypothesis, I struggle with the fact that I feel like they would influence one another and not one creating or shaping another. What the hypothesis would say is that English has shaped the American culture to be one distinctly different than the culture of the one here of the people who speak Spanish. What is challenging for us as Neque is that for the most part we do not understand the language. What is interesting to observe is that the children's language is very fast paced, which according to this hypothesis would shape their culture to be high placed too! This is true when we see the kids always running and playing and talking all the time!

What the hypothesis can explain is as we learn Spanish we also are simultaneously learning the culture of the area we are learning in. As I communicate with the children through nonverbal communication and the small bit of Spanish I do know I am simultaneously learning about their culture through their communication back to me. We communicate through Spanish and English creating a new sort of Spangilish, which creates a new culture because it is a new language. 

The Spanish I speak is completely different than the Spanish Ecuadorians speak, which is different than the Spanish Mexicans speak. What I do not understand about the hypothesis is that if all of these places in Latin American speak Spanish. However, they all have different cultures. I am interested in knowing more about the external factors this hypothesis recognizes can impact and influence culture. 

Here is a photo of me and some children from Neque. We are both communicating our feelings of joy and continent through our nonverbal.