Warm or Slightly Hot? Differences in Linguistic Dimensions Describing Perceived Thermal Sensation

Abstract

This communication discussed the linguistic usages of terms expressing perceived thermal sensation in English, Japanese, and Korean. In particular, ttatthada (warm) in Korean and atatakai (warm) in Japanese represents a thermally positive feeling. For Koreans and Japanese, to explicitly express thermal sensation as warm is to implicitly connote a thermally comfortable or satisfied state. When ‘comfortably warm’ and ‘uncomfortably warm’ are translated into Korean or Japanese they sound like a redundant expression and possibly an oxymoron, respectively. Subjective thermal perception has been measured using particular languages and then translated into English for international communication. International Standards (ISO) in environmental physiology or ergonomics have played an important role in setting criteria, unifying international research, and suggesting the direction of further research. However, the differences in linguistic dimensions across cultures may cause confusion when interpreting thermal perceptions measured by different languages. It is conceivable that similar difficulties exemplified in Korean and Japanese may exist in other languages. Therefore, international standards for the measurement of subjective thermal perceptions need to take into account the variations of interpretation given to these descriptors across cultures. For international standards to be internationally valid, systematic research on linguistic differences in thermal perceptive words is required.