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RAMBLE in the JUNGLE · Textbook · Unit 1: Culture, Knowledge and Meaning

Issue 1.2

Can Ideas Like "Spirit" or "God" Be Truly Shared Across Cultures?

YESEditorial counterpoint, Translators Prove It Can Be Done (written for this book)
NOWanaku Verdzekov, Navigating the Intangible (2012) and When the Student Is Ready, the Guru Appears (2011–2014)

Learning outcomes

After reading this issue, you should be able to:

Explain the idea that words carry cultural meanings (connotations).
Summarize the main claims of both texts by the author and of the counterpoint.
Evaluate evidence about translation and bilingualism.
Distinguish between "perfect" and "sufficient" understanding.
Write a reflection on a word from your own language that is hard to translate.

Introduction

Linguists have long asked whether the language we speak shapes the way we think. The idea that it does is often called linguistic relativity (associated with the American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf). A strong version says that speakers of different languages live in different mental worlds; a weaker version, which most researchers today accept, says that language influences how we notice and remember things, without trapping us.

Every language has words that are hard to translate. Portuguese saudade names a longing for something absent; German Schadenfreude is pleasure at another's misfortune; Zulu and Xhosa ubuntu means that a person becomes a person through other people. Translators must decide whether to keep such words, explain them, or find the closest match.

Religious and spiritual ideas are especially hard. Words like "spirit", "soul" and "God" are linked to particular stories, rituals and histories. When missionaries brought Christianity to Africa, for example, they often had to choose an existing local word for God, which carried meanings from local belief.

The author, Wanaku Verdzekov, grew up speaking itaŋiKom, the language of the Kom Kingdom in north-west Cameroon, was educated in English by missionaries, and later lived in the United States. The two short texts here reflect on how culture shapes meaning (Text A) and why no one can know everything (Text B).

As you read, ask: When two people use the same word, how can they tell whether they mean the same thing?

YES

Translators Prove It Can Be Done

Editorial counterpoint Written for this book, not by Wanaku Verdzekov.

This essay was written for this textbook to present the opposing side fairly. It is not by Wanaku Verdzekov.

Wanaku Verdzekov is right that words carry culture. The English word "spirit" does not mean exactly what a Zulu or Igbo speaker means by the nearest word in their language. But the author's conclusion, that deep ideas cannot truly be shared, goes too far. Human history is full of evidence that they can.

Humans share more than they differ

People everywhere are born, love, grieve and die. Every known culture has words for mother and child, for joy and fear, for the dead and for what might lie beyond. These shared experiences give us common ground to stand on when we talk about "intangible" things. When a Kom elder and a Scottish grandmother each describe the feeling of losing a parent, they may use different images, but they will recognize each other's grief.

Translation works, imperfectly but truly

If deep ideas could not be shared, translation would be impossible. Yet the holy books of the world's major religions have been translated into thousands of languages, and believers in very different cultures read them and find meaning. Philosophers read Plato in Chinese and Confucius in English. The African idea of ubuntu, "a person is a person through other people", has travelled around the world and is now discussed in boardrooms and classrooms far from southern Africa. Something is always lost in translation, but something is always carried across, too.

Meaning grows through conversation

The author suggests that people with different backgrounds will simply talk past each other. But meaning is not fixed at birth; it grows as people talk. When two people disagree about what "spirit" means, they can ask questions, give examples, tell stories, and, as the author herself suggests, draw a picture. Over time, they build a shared understanding that neither had at the start. This is how science, law and friendship all work. The author's own advice, "draw me a picture", is proof that the gap can be bridged.

Bilingual people live the answer

Millions of people grow up speaking two or more languages. Many pray in one language, joke in another and study in a third. They move between cultural meanings every day. If ideas could not be shared across cultures, these people would be permanently divided inside themselves. Instead, many say that knowing two languages lets them see an idea from two sides, and understand it more fully than either culture alone.

The author proves the point

Finally, the author's wider writing is evidence against the NO side. In English, a language not spoken by the author's ancestors, Wanaku Verdzekov explains Kom ideas such as the Circle of Life, the value of the person in the Kom motto, and the difference between "red" and "white" people. Readers who have never visited Kom come away understanding something new. That is what sharing across cultures looks like.

Conclusion

No two people, even from the same village, understand a word in exactly the same way. Perfect sharing is impossible. But true sharing, enough to understand, to respect and to learn, happens every day. The question is not whether meaning can cross cultures, but how much effort we are willing to make to carry it across.

— Editorial counterpoint

Navigating the Intangible (2012) and When the Student Is Ready, the Guru Appears (2011–2014)

By Wanaku Verdzekov

Text A: Navigating the Intangible

Talking about intangible things (ideas like "spirit", "God" or "love") is a challenge. Language is a powerful tool for communication, but when it meets culture, it can quickly become a barrier. So here is the question: how does our cultural background shape the way we understand these intangibles?

Words carry culture

Words are not just empty buckets for ideas. They are soaked in the culture of the people who speak them. So when we try to put intangible things into words, we are walking on slippery ground.

An African proverb says: "When talking with wise people, few words suffice; when talking with foolish people, you are forced to do much more explaining." Which raises a question: are we all on the same level when we discuss complex ideas? You tell me.

Take words like "spirit" or "ghost". Can the man or woman on the street (the MOTS) really grasp what these words originally meant? I doubt it. Language evolves, meanings shift, and misunderstandings follow, especially when people come from different cultural backgrounds.

Culture frames the conversation

If you ask me, our understanding of intangible things is framed by our cultural experience. Talk about "spirit" in English, and the word comes loaded with the meanings of English-speaking cultures. Now bring in someone from another culture (Igbo, Zulu, Hindu…) with their own understanding of "spirit". What happens?

Dissonance. Each person sees the idea through the lens of their own culture, and the result is more confusion, not more clarity. One trick that sometimes works: ask each person to "draw me a picture" of what they mean. A picture can travel where words get stuck.

Religion and spirituality

God, prayer, spirituality: these ideas also make more sense inside a particular cultural frame. But is that too limiting? Or does it open the door to deeper conversations about what we share as humans? Something to think about.

Your turn

As citizens of a global community, we have a chance to talk seriously about intangible things. So let's explore how our cultures shape what we understand, and how we can navigate the differences.

The challenge is not impossible. It is an invitation to explore the richness of our different backgrounds. The more we talk, the better we understand each other, and the world around us. So let's navigate the intangible together. Share your insights. Share your experience.

Text B: When the Student Is Ready, the Guru Appears

Life goes in cycles (sort of).
So humans come and go, turn by turn.
What each turn knows is different, each in its own way.
So generations may differ in what each
knows or does not know.
At one point or another,
a generation or an individual knows some things and not others.
That is why no one knows everything.

Everyone who is willing can learn something new every day,
adding to their knowledge.
As each one adds to their knowledge,
that adds to the total of a generation's knowledge bank.

Now here's the sticky part:
increasing the knowledge of a large cross-section of a generation
requires measures that some might consider a little extreme.
That sometimes results in authoritarian social frameworks,
set up to speed up the delivery of knowledge.
Since humans are wired to resist authoritarian influence,
not everyone gets on the learning train.
Over time, generational cycles intertwine,
creating a mass of concrete knowledge that is available to anyone.

The other sticky point is that this concrete knowledge
is bigger than any one human brain can hold.
So what to do?
Since humans are adaptive (as almost all created things are),
each one chips away at it as they see fit.
In other words, they use bits and pieces of it as needed.
It could also be just for fun.

Why would I want to know the chemical properties of a rock
if I don't even know the rock exists?
And even if I did, why would I want to know
if I have no use for it?
Or why would I study the breeding habits of a bush rat
if all I do is hunt and kill it?
If I learn the ways of the bush rat, maybe I want to help preserve it.
Why would I want to preserve it?
Is it my business whether the bush rat breeds or not?
These are questions that already have answers.
Some of the answers are well documented, too.

The nagging problem for a single human being
is the inability to know, alone, all there is to know.
I think a lot of wise people come to that realization at some point.
A famous saying goes: "When the student is ready, the guru will appear."

Wish I could be more helpful.

— Wanaku Verdzekov

Text A dates from 2012; its only surviving copy had been polished with an AI tool, and this version restores the author's voice. Text B was written between 2011 and 2014. Both lightly edited for this book.

Vocabulary

Word or phrase	Meaning in the readings
intangible	something that cannot be touched, like an idea or feeling
connotation	an extra meaning or feeling a word carries
proverb	a short traditional saying that gives advice
dissonance	a clash or lack of agreement
lens (figurative)	a way of seeing or interpreting
cycle	a series of events that repeats
amalgam	a mixture of different things
peruse	to read or examine carefully
linguistic relativity	the idea that language influences thought
translation	expressing the meaning of words in another language
bilingual	able to use two languages
ubuntu	"a person is a person through other people" (Zulu/Xhosa)

Comprehension questions

Literal (find it in the text)

What trick does Text A suggest for bridging a cultural gap?
According to Text B, why does no one know everything?
What famous saying ends Text B?
Name two examples of shared human experience given in the counterpoint.
What idea from southern Africa does the counterpoint say has travelled around the world?

Inferential (read between the lines)

Why might an English speaker and an Igbo speaker misunderstand each other when talking about "spirit"?
How does Text B's bush-rat example relate to learning across cultures?
Why does the counterpoint say the author's own writing "proves the point"?
What is the difference between "perfect sharing" and "true sharing" in the counterpoint?

Critical (evaluate and respond)

Which reading gives the more convincing account of how people come to understand each other? Explain.
Choose a word in your own language (or a language you know) that is hard to translate. Explain it to someone who does not speak that language. What did you lose, and what did you carry across?
Does learning a second language change the way you think? Give evidence from your own experience or research.

Is there common ground?

Both writers agree that words carry culture, that some meaning is lost when ideas cross cultures, and that effort (questions, pictures, conversation) helps. The author herself suggests "draw me a picture"; the counterpoint treats this as proof that bridges can be built.

Their disagreement is about degree. The author stresses the gaps: each person sees through their own cultural lens, so dissonance is likely. The counterpoint stresses the bridges: shared human experience, translation and bilingual lives show that understanding is possible, even if never perfect.

A middle position might say: ideas can be shared well enough to understand and respect each other, but only if we assume from the start that we may not mean the same thing, and check.

Debate and writing prompt

Debate motion: This house believes that the deepest ideas of a culture can never be fully understood by outsiders.

Divide the class into proposition and opposition. Each side must use at least two pieces of evidence from its reading and answer the other side's strongest point.
After the debate, hold a vote, then discuss which arguments changed minds.

Writing task: (400–600 words) Write a personal essay about a word, idea or custom from your culture that outsiders often misunderstand. Explain the misunderstanding, what the word or custom really means to you, and how someone from outside could come to understand it.