i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

In the following blog, I would like to talk about examples of cultural categorization, in the form of abstraction and imagery representations found in languages.  In specific, I would like to draw several examples from the Russian language.

These examples are evinced when a person tries to translate these words or expressions into a different language.  For instance, when I started learning English, I noticed that if I translate the literal meaning of a perfectly normal expression in Russian into English, English-speakers found it extremely weird and funny sounding.

Russian language very often uses descriptive imagery (such as idioms) to categorize life experience.  These kinds of abstractions are so ingrained into the language that they often define the language; without knowing the idioms, a foreigner studying Russian would not understand what Russians mean with these expressions.  Below are some examples.

"Motherland"

In Russian, all words have gender, either feminine or masculine.  The word "land" has feminine gender.  Since land gives birth to plants and feeds the humans, Russian land is often referred as "Matushka Rossiya" (Матушка Россия), or "Mother Russia."  The word itself has long roots from ancient culture and literature.  Possibly, it was coined in ancient Russia while pagan religion was still prominent (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Матушка_Россия).

"Swallowed the book" 

Sometimes I hear this phrase in English from Russian speaking people.  This is a literal translation from Russian to English.  And I think in English it sounds quite funny.  But, in Russian to "swallow a book" (проглотить книгу [proglatit' knigu]) is an idiom describing the act of "reading an interesting book very quickly."  English language also has a similar phrase that describes reading a book quickly: "devouring the book" or "She devoured the classics."

"Spit on it or spit upon"

When an English speaker wants to say, "I don't care,"  he or she uses negation with the word "care".  When a Russian speaker wants to proclaim that he or she does not value or care about something, he or she will use the word, "наплевать [naplevat']," which literally means to "spit upon".

"Yes, no" (Da, net)

When you hear this phrase in Russian, it actually means no.  "Da" (literally, "yes") is used for emphasis.

"Horribly beautiful."

In Еnglish people say "terribly beautiful", in Russian people say "ужасно красивая [uzhasno krasivaya], which literally means "horribly beautiful".  "Horrible" in this instance adds emphasis, meaning it's so extreme, it's scary.

In addition, in Russian, there are at least 6 different ways to say "to go" somewhere.  It depends if you travel by vehicle, are coming or going, are doing it habitually or once, etc.

These are just some of examples of cultural categorization in Russian language.  And, there are plenty more.  Here are the answers to the five questions of what, why, how, when, and by whom is the language is being organized:

What is being organized?

It is the language that is being organized.

Why it is being organized?

It is describing a unique cultural experience.

How much is it being organize?

It is organized in extend of the emotions it's describing.

When is it being organized?

It is being organized at the time of people speaking it.

By whom is it being organized ?

It is organized by the people who speak the language.

Additionally, here is a link to an article about other foreign phrases that describe unique cultural experiences, which the English language lacks: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-world/2007/10/23/weird-and-wondrful-foreign-phrases-115875-19993239/