"You are not a woman."

Sept 21, 2012

Language reflects the ideas, attitudes, and priorities of a culture. From our very first words, our mindsets start to be shaped by the language around us. Yet we are often completely oblivious to this.  How can you recognize that an idea is unique to your culture or absent from your culture if you have no way words to identify the idea? Until you have to translate something…

Part of the complexity of global health research is of course the multitude of languages. It’s part fun, part frustrating, and occasionally enlightening. I spent the last several days going over consent forms, survey questions, and patient education materials with some Kenyan colleagues.  Everything needs to be in English, Kiswahili, and Dholuo. Here are a few highlights:

1.     “god” – I don’t understand. What are you saying? Good? Oh, you mean God with a capital G. No one would recognize what ‘god’ means.

2.     “woman” – Well, what do you mean by “woman”? You can only be a woman after you are married and have had a child. For example, we wouldn’t consider you a woman. No, you are definitely not a woman.

3.     “sex worker” –  This is a hard question to ask. There are so many different types of sex workers. Some women have exchanged sex for money, but they are not sex workers and they would be offended to be called a prostitute. Some women will tell you they are a sex worker – like a confession.

4.     “relationship status” – There is no way to say this. There is only a translation for “marital status”. You are single or married. That’s it.

5.     “cervix” – Again, there is no word of cervix. We can only describe it as the “neck of the womb” or the “door of the bag that holds birth”.