Teaching Terms, Culturemes and Realia in Teacher Education Language Programs

Abstract

This article explores the distinction between terms, realia and culture-specific terms as linguistic units within specialised and cultural communication through the research design Translating Culturemes, Realia and Specialised Terms in Teacher Education. Terms are approached as precise, standardised lexical units that convey technical meanings within professional domains, ensuring clarity and semantic stability. In contrast, culturemes are culturally embedded expressions tied to unique social traditions and practices, often lacking direct equivalents in other languages and requiring contextual adaptation in translation. Implemented within a teacher education program for language studies, this research examines how these units challenge teacher education students and evaluates various translation strategies: transliteration, cultural retention, functional equivalence, contextualization, etc., to preserve both meaning and cultural identity. A multi-level training terminological framework is proposed to guide teacher education students to effectively translate culturally rich texts. The findings highlight the complementary, yet distinct nature of terms, realia and culturemes and emphasise the importance of the training terminological framework, linguistic precision combined with cultural sensitivity in cross-cultural communication.