The description of culture-specific lexical items in bilingual dictionaries

This study examines the treatment of culture-specific lexical items in bilingual dictionaries, focusing on Mikhail Pavlovich Putsillo’s 1874 Russian–Korean Dictionary. These elements represent unique cultural concepts and present challenges to lexicographers due to their complex connotations and the absence of direct equivalents. Putsillo addressed these challenges through direct translation, paraphrasing, and cultural explanations, each possessing distinct strengths and weaknesses. Although direct translation captures basic meanings, it generally fails to transmit cultural nuances, and paraphrasing may alter the original context. Cultural explanations, on the other hand, provide comprehensive insights, as exemplified by entries such as sangtu (topknot), which include detailed cultural annotations. By advocating a hybrid approach that combines linguistic precision with cultural annotations, this research highlights the role of bilingual dictionaries in facilitating cross-cultural understanding. It concludes by proposing guidelines for translating culture-specific terms and by calling for further investigation into areas such as philosophy and traditional arts to refine lexicographical practices.