The paper reports the writer’s new understanding of the relationship between language and culture in the context of teaching English as a lingua franca as a result of rethinking of this issue. The writer classifies cultures into two types: (1) languature which is mediated by language and (2) non-languature which does not necessarily involve the use of language (Wen, 2016). From the “process” perspective, language production needs four dimensions of languature: topical, discoursal. situational and linguistic (Levelt, 1989), which can be placed on the continuum of separability. The operational criterion for deciding the degree of separability is the degree of explicitness, i.e. to what extent native speakers are consciously aware of such languature. This new understanding of the relationship between language and culture is directly against the dichotomous view of either being separable or inseparable. Finally，the paper puts forward three suggestions for resolving dilemmas in teaching cultures in English as a lingua franca.