Lessons from Languages - what is lost in translation?

Problems
Translating
Some languages have words which are hard to translate with one word - or even several. In England for skiers and road users we have half a dozen words for snow: snow, powder snow, packed snow, snow drift, slush, blue ice (in glaciers), black ice (invisible ice on roads). Eskimos have more words for snow. To people in Asia who have never seen snow, slush is not an easy word to understand.

I was looking at the German on duo lingo which is an internet language course and I noticed something strange. The Germans say Schlafzimmer, literally meaning sleep room, which translates into English as bedroom. Almost the same, but not quite.

Translation
After translating, you get somebody else who is bilingual to back translate.

Marketing
When designing marketing questionnaires, you have to take into account local languages and sensitivity.

Questionnaires
Alcohol
In some Moslem countries you cannot ask about consumption of alcohol, because that is deemed offensive.

Male Interviewers
Also in some countries a male interviewer could not be sent to interview housewives.

Definitions of Wealth
If you are asking about wealth, the items people own differ between countries.

Housing
Ownership also changes through time. In 1993 a measure of wealth in Jakarta, Indonesia, would be was the home made of cast iron or brick, and is there any open sewer in the street.

Household Goods
Regarding goods, did they own an electrical appliance - and did they have electricity?

Means of Transport

In previous centuries, owning a horse would have been a luxury. Owning a horse enabled you to travel. Those heroes and heroines on TV, men riding horses, approaching women walking and wearing their bonnets, were not just high 'on their high horse' but showing off their horse, like a boy in later times driving along a city street in their sports car to show off to admiring pedestrians and stopping to show off the car, impress potential business associates and chat up pretty girls.

In the UK, owning a horse is still a luxury.

Cycles and Cars
As countries develop, they progress from bicycles to mopeds to car ownership.

In the UK almost every household (I am writing in 2017) nowadays has a car.

Cars and Mobile Phones
We come back to the problems of translation. Is a 'mobil' a car or a phone or a rotating device above a baby's cot.

Address Cards
Is a hand held phone a h/p (hand phone) as shown on a Japanese business card. Or a cell phone?

Is a business card called a business card or an address card?

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer