ABSTRACT
British cultures, or any others, can be studied by those who are native to them or by outsiders, but there are fundamental differences between the two perspectives, one of which is the question of language. Where those studying the culture of a specific social group speak ‘the same’ language as those who are ‘natives’ of the group, they have much easier access. For example, even though the language of a teacher studying the culture of the medical profession, or of a British teacher studying the culture of American teachers, is not identical with the language of the natives of the culture in question, the overlap is considerable. On the other hand, where the students of a culture have access to it through a foreign language, there arise quite different and difficult issues. And here, too, there are degrees of difference, from, for example, access to British cultures for a speaker of French or German to the perspectives facing a speaker of Chinese or Japanese. The complexity of access comprises differences in linguistic structures and distances between cultures.
