ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with elements which transcend conventional cultural and linguistic boundaries and which are in this sense fundamentally trans-cultural, multilingual elements. This phenomenon is familiar enough in historically written languages, as in the derivation of concepts in Anglo-Saxon and Germanic languages from Greek or Latin roots, or the circulation of certain concepts between Hindi, Persian, Arabic, and other Semitic languages. The modern technology of the mass media, the printing press, radio and television, the whole process of education, necessitate standardization through selection of certain dialects and the neglect of others. Any attempt to turn the clock back is futile, but if the teaching of cross-cultural semantics could be brought right into the educational process these linguistic riches of the past would not be wholly lost, and pride in the national and cultural heritage would be greatly stimulated.
