Language can reveal so much about the values and priorities in a culture. That’s why I love learning about different languages and discovering the richness of cultural differences. Perhaps Rita Mae Brown best described the connection between language and culture when she said:

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.

One Thousand Names

What would you call this animal? To me, it is simply a reindeer.

There are 48 terms in the Northern Saami language for the shape of reindeer antlers.
© Thinkstock

People in Norway rely heavily on reindeer like this one for transportation as well as for food. Owners need to easily identify their animals. So the people have developed very precise language to talk about the animals.

Dr. Ole Henrik Magga reports that, in the Northern Saami language in Norway, there are over 1000 words that each convey a precise description of a reindeer, based on its gender, age, and appearance. For example, the word váža is used to describe a full-grown female reindeer which has already had a calf. And a siekŋa-njunni  is a reindeer whose hair around its nostrils is a different and unexpected color from the rest of its hair.

Oh I see!  The details in language are a wonderful mirror of the culture in which the language grows.

Shades of Blue

In English, we use the word “blue” to describe all shades of the color from sky blue to deep indigo. The Russian language does not have a single word for blue, instead it separates blue into light blues (goluboy) and dark blues (siniy).

Is it light or dark blue?
© Janine Boylan

Lera Boroditsky has done a number of studies on language. She reports that it is easier for native Russian speakers to see the subtle differences in shades of blue because, since childhood, they have been calling the two blues by distinct names. Similarly, she found that people who grew up speaking English had greater difficulty distinguishing between differences in the shades of blue.

Oh, I see! The words you know can shape the world you see.

A Cell is a Cell (Or Is It?)

A mobile, a cell, a cellular, a portable—those are all words used to describe cellular phones in different parts of the word.

In Japan, a cell phone is called keitai, “portable.”
© Janine Boylan

In Sweden, another word for mobile phone is nalle, a teddy bear. The term was coined in the 1980s when portable phones were very expensive and only newly rich “yuppies” were able to buy them. People called the phones yuppienalle, the yuppie teddy bear, to mock owners and their expensive “toys.” But the teddy bear term stuck.

And, in Germany, the device is called a “handy.” One source says the name came from the Word War II “Handie Talkie,” the handheld walkie talkie the troops used. Since that time, the term has been used for various mobile devices, and today is synonymous with a mobile phone.

Oh, I see! Languages add new words all the time, and sometimes there’s a cultural spin.

Language is a wonderful window into cultural differences! What is the most interesting thing you have learned about a culture through its language?

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