Hotwords

Back to: Training Session: Critical Situations in Intercultural Contexts

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Beside the concept of hotspots in communication we can also define „hotwords“ that sometimes are inclined to cause irritation in intercultural interaction. Hotwords usually are connected to hotspots in a certain culture. They are coined by relevant cultural topics, in a manner of speaking they are „culturally charged“.

Hotwords hint at cultural focuses and reveal cultural contrasts. For example, the word „honour“ is used in many cultures but it has very different implications:

How do you recognise hotwords in intercultural communication?

• Usually their meaning is ambiguous and cannot be described clearly.
• Sometimes they cannot be directly translated because they are based on particularities of a certain culture. For example, the Scandinavian word „hygge“ does not really exist in cultures outside Scandinavian countries. It can be paraphrased as something like „wellbeing“ or „cosiness“ but these words do not meet the core of „hygge“. The word relates to certain cultural traditions and habits and just can be understood inside this cultural framework.
• Hotwords tell something about the way phenomena are handled in a certain culture. For instance, cultures own manifold ways to handle the phenomenon of death, and those ways can be recognised in metaphors and images used. Death can be described as sleep, as farewell, as a beginning of a new life or as a journey. In some cultures death is a natural part of life whereas in others it is rather tabooed and suppressed.
• Hotwords are always connected to (positive or negative) emotions.

Example

The concept of handling time and the management of time resources largely depend on cultural attitudes. For instance, the Spanish word „mañana“ which is especially common in South America actually means „tomorrow“ but is frequently used in the meaning of „soon“ or „somewhere in the future“. Many Europeans and North Americans are inclined to regard the word as an expression of indefiniteness or even unreliability and speak of the South American „mañana-culture“.

Assignment

Please set up a list of hotwords of the culture you live in, and consider for each of them: