Is it a Language or a Cultural Problem?

“A speaker of variety A who is dismayed or annoyed because speakers of variety B do not talk like the folks back home does not have a linguistic problem but a cultural one, which can only be solved if one is genuinely willing to work to develop the ability  – which does not come naturally – to understand the other.”

– Milton M. Azevedo, in Portuguese, A Linguistic Introduction

This explains why people from different cultures get so frustrated with each other, and blame it on the language. It’s not always just the language that’s the problem 🙂