Description:
Linguacultures in global language networks. This article presents aview of the relationship between language and culture that is critical of the commonly held position that national language and national culture are inseparable. When we take our point of departure in a view of the world as characterized by transnational processes, the question of the relationship between language and culture presents itself in a new light: How can we take account of people’s mobilities, their varying language competences and culturalidentities across various cultural contexts, while at the same time maintaining that language is a culture-bearing and culture-producing activity? We need to see languages like Danish or Swedish not as confined to national state borders, but as language networks of global range, and we need to foreground the linguacultures of these languages: their variable dimensions of meaning, as first, second and foreign languages. This means that the Danish-languageclassroom needs to incorporate a culture-analytical and global perspective.