Language, adaptation, and culture

The main objective of the diploma work Language, Adaptation and Culture is to approach the question of an adaptation of a foreigner through the process of learning the Czech language. A foreigner being new to a particular society has to go through many unknown situations concerning his behavioral patters, his language knowledge as well as his habits and attitudes. I find this process of learning the new "know how" very interesting to study as it brings important ideas and experiences to the intercultural relations. This work particularly focuses on the role of "native" language knowledge in the process of acculturation of an individual. It consists of two parts. The theoretical part, divided into six chapters, is firstly dealing with the terms of acculturation and how it is perceived by both anthropology and cross-cultural psychology. Secondly the focus is put on the phenomena of a foreigner and the characteristic of the relation between "we" group and "they" group. The third chapter is dedicated to the question of a foreigner in the Czech environment, following by the chapter five introducing the origins of language as well as the linguistic anthropology as it is presented by the contemporary human science studies. The sixth part's objective is to briefly inform about the techniques of the qualitative..