In 1995, UNESCO introduced the International Day for Tolerance as a reminder of the dangers of intolerance. It was originally introduced on what would have been Mahatma Gandhi’s 125th birthday.
Here at Living Language, we believe that learning culture is as important to communication as learning a language. Understanding someone else’s culture will help you understand them at a deeper level than words can ever convey. We live in a world of differences, which doesn’t make any of us better than anyone else, it just makes us different. Learning the customs, traditions, and other aspects of a culture can lead to a greater understanding of someone else’s worldview and inform how we approach conversation.
To mark this day of tolerance and togetherness, let’s learn how to say “together” in 15 of the languages we teach here at Living Language.
| Language | Phrase [Transliteration] |
| French | ensemble |
| German | zusammen |
| Italian | insieme |
| Brazilian Portuguese | juntos(as) |
| Spanish | juntos |
| Arabic | معاً [mxan] |
| Chinese | 一起 [yìqǐ] |
| Japanese | 一緒に [isshoni] |
| Korean | 같이, 함께 [kach*i, hamkke] |
| Greek | μαζί [ma-ZEE] |
| Hebrew | יחד [yaHad] |
| Russian | вместе [vmeste] |
| Dutch | samen |
| Polish | razem |
And because understanding culture is so important, be sure to dig back into our blog posts to learn some of the cultural information we’ve shared over the years. Simply click on one of the language categories at right to see more cultural posts about that language.
What are you doing to help you understand other cultures, start learning their language, start getting involved with their communities? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook!