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Choosing Culture-Specific Words

Some languages have more different words for the different substances of ice or rain than others. The Norwegian language reflects a historic seafaring nation, having one strong word for "wind in your favor". Some languages have words that do not exist in others. The English pith, the archaic word for marrow, refers to the white under the skin of oranges and other citrus fruit. This seems to be directly linked with the British "marmalade culture." There is no equivalent in the Dutch language translation for the English to fudge (empty talk, refusing to commit oneself).

The Dutch are not inclined to fudge, which may explain their image of being blunt. Some culture-specific words migrate to other languages if they express some­thing unique. Examples of such words are management, computer, apartheid, machismo, perestroika, geisha, sauna, Mafia, and kamikaze. Often, these words reflect the specific values of a culture. They cannot easily be translated into words of other cultures, or they have been borrowed from another culture from the start.

The English language does not have its own words for cousin and nephew. These were borrowed from French {cousin and neveu}. The way a person describes kin is closely connected with the way he or she thinks about them. In extended families, a father and a father's brother may both be termed "father." The Hungarians differentiate between a younger sister {hug} and an older sister {nover}. The Russian language has different names for the four different brothers-in-law. In Indonesian, besan is the word for "parents of the children who are married to each other."

In Spanish translation one could point to the difficulties of translating, quiceñera, the culturally-bound idea of presenting a young woman to society on her 15th birthday.

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