ABSTRACT
I have often wondered why it is that some cultures seem to have a language or words for things that another society lacks. Of course, it is commonplace to point out environmental determinants: how the Inuit living in the Northern Arctic have a highly differentiated vocabulary for snow and ice where in most societies one only has a few general terms. The physical environment of human beings provides for experiences that people in different geographical locations may not encounter. And therefore, the language forms associated with these experiences may not be translatable into languages where the ecological conditions are very different. But how does this sit with terms that describe human relationships? More particularly, does the absence of an equivalent for the word pedagogy in some languages reflect a different preoccupation with children, a different approach to children or even culturally different ways of perceiving and thinking about children?
