[Calaen]

This does not have to be so when one only studies the language, because some languages are spoken in so many areas that you cannot choose just one country's culture. For me, language and culture are two completely different things, because you will be understood if you speak the language, and people won't ask you to repeat what you're saying if you know absolutely nothing about cultures. So getting to know the country's style of living, etcetra, is not essential.

Sometimes, however, knowledge of a culture comes with the study of a language. It really depends on what aspect of the language you're interested in. If I just want to communicate I'm fine without knowledge of the culture, but if I, for example, want to study the history of a language, it's important to know why, when and how a language changed to completely understand it. That's when you need to know stuff about the culture.