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One of the most obvious yet profound differences between cultures is language (Chiu, Leung, & Kwan, 2007). As anyone who has learned a second or third language knows, finding close or even reasonably accurate translations can sometimes be difficult. If you know a second language, then try translating “when it is your turn, please turn to the left and then turn over the green sheet.” My guess is that the use of the word “turn” to signify three different activities complicates your task! Imagine trying to translate entire paragraphs, surveys, or complex, detailed experimental instructions in other languages. To illustrate, take a look at the problems with the translations and back translations of several phrases in Table 5.1. Humans could of course do a much better translation job than computer algorithms, but you get the idea.

In addition to the need to produce adequate translations of everyday words and phrases, psychologists sometimes wish to examine more abstract or nuanced ones, many of which have no direct translation in other languages. For instance, the English term “self-esteem” has no direct equivalent in Chinese, and therefore an investigator can’t simply ask a Chinese respondent whether or not she has low self-esteem (Miller, Wang, Sandel, & Cho, 2002). Another concern with cross-cultural translations is related to the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis (Whorf, 1956), which, in its strong form, states that people who speak different languages think about the world in fundamentally divergent ways, with the implication that accurate translation is extremely difficult, if not impossible (Tohidian, 2009). However, most psychologists subscribe to a weaker version of the hypothesis, believing that, although language does impact thinking, cross-cultural communication and reasonably good translations are possible, even if not always perfect (Chiu et al., 2007; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Pinker, 2007).

One of the challenges of cross-cultural research is accurately translating questions, instructions, and responses from one language to another.

REUTERS/Albert Gea.

The most common method for overcoming this problem in psychological research is via back translation (Heine, Lehman, Peng, & Greenholtz, 2002). Back translation involves at least two translators, both of whom are fluent in the two languages (Brislin, 1970). Ideally, there is at least one native speaker of each of the languages. One person translates from, say, English to Spanish, and the other translates the Spanish version back into English. The two English versions are then compared by the translators and discrepancies are resolved (Heine, 2010a).