Teaching Culture or Teaching about Culture?

The paper deals with one of the most important issues in modern Foreign Language Teaching Methodology – the integration of culture in the process of teaching a foreign language. The relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted. Language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. Different ideas stem from differing language use within one’s culture and the whole intertwining of these relationships start at one’s birth. The competent speaker of a foreign language should acquire at least a minimum knowledge of the culture of target language speaking countries. It can help to reduce the culture shock – feelings of discomfort, fear, or insecurity experienced by a person who moves to live, work in a foreign country or during foreign travels. In the process of teaching FL teachers’ job is to introduce learners to the complexities of the real world which students will have to face in the future together with various linguistic