Our ability to cooperate in large groups and perceive the world through language is what sets humans apart from gorillas, chimpanzees, bees, and dinosaurs. Language and culture grant us knowledge, history, experience, and a clear perception of the world. Vygotsky suggests that culture links the history of a social group and the communicative activity of its members. Language and culture project reality and open up new worlds to explore. Being bilingual or multilingual means having the potential to learn about more cultures and expand our understanding of the world.

Language and culture are intertwined and form a process of communication that is integrated with other semiotic systems such as rituals, dance, music, graffiti, beatboxing, clothing, gestures, posters, ways of walking and talking. Our perception of reality is drastically different depending on social factors and environments.

Piaget and Vygotsky have different perspectives on cognitive development. Piaget believes in innate development, while Vygotsky's prime concern is social interaction. Learning can be enhanced by engaging in social activities and the socio-cultural environment, which creates opportunities for children to learn from their peers and society. Vygotsky believes that most of what children learn is based on the impact of society, as it teaches them culture and social means.

Our knowledge, experiences, and feelings are fully influenced by our social environment in an ongoing process of mutual effects. Humans construct knowledge based on social factors and environmental context. Our emotions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes are frequently shaped by the context in which we live. Society and culture have a powerful impact on the way we think, believe, or feel.

Our understanding of the world is not just limited to the mastery of language skills, such as sentence structures, vocabulary, and grammar. We must also take into account social and cultural factors to obtain a clear 3D vision of the world. Kaplan offered an example of this cultural effect when discussing rhetoric, stating that it varies from culture to culture, depending on time, place, and the canon of taste.

The acquisition of knowledge alone does not guarantee a complete understanding of the globe. As Lev Vygotsky expressed, education involves developing many specialized thinking abilities for diverse subjects.

According to Potebnya, articulate language not only communicates our thoughts but also shapes our entire way of thinking.

References:

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6692430/

- Toulmin, S. (1978). “The Mozart of psychology” in Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological processes by L.S. Vygotsky.

- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-researchers-illustration-of-van-Dijks-1998-model-In-the-current-study-van-Dijks_fig1_326344738

- Sapir, E. (1929). The Status of Linguistics as a Science. Language, 5(4), 207–214.

- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11097-020-09704-z

- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28368075_Multi-_inter-_and_transdisciplinary_affordances_in_foreign_language_education_from_singularity_to_multiplicity#pf16