在跨語言溝通中，我們經常使用「直接翻譯」作為了解一個陌生語言的新詞語最迅捷的方式。本文藉由「語意圖譜」的理論，探討直接翻譯可能帶來的誤解：若將概念想像成一個圖譜，不同的語言在表達同一個概念時，切分概念空間的方式有其約定俗成的社會力量，圖譜劃分的邊界無法完美地筍合，跨語言的同義詞也因此出現語意落差。以賽夏語的nahan 一詞為例，它可以表示事件重複、事件延續、成員增述、以及事件相序。這些功能之間彼此相關，構成一個概念域，但是這個概念域在中文中卻被切分成三個類別，分別以「還」、「再」、「又」來表示。雖然中文的「還」、「再」、「又」常被視為nahan的跨語言同義詞，但這四個詞發展的路徑卻大不相同，各自和其語境緊密結合，其結構和意義必須仰賴學習而非單純的將之對等。這種概念表達的不自由性促使我們相信除了客觀化、主觀化、及互動主觀化之外，語言的使用應該加入「群體化」此一觀點。我們認為語言的型態與其社會功能息息相關，不能單純地用說話者的「個體認知能力」來解釋，而語境和社會性的影響正是未來語言學研究必須考慮的關鍵因素。

In crosslinguistic communications, direct translation has often been used as an effective way to understand a novel linguistic form in a foreign language. By utilizing the notion of “semantic map,” we would like to show the possible mismatches of direct translations. Speakers in one language often take a socially-shared perspective to map the conceptual structure to the semantic structure, rendering different verbalizations. Saisiyat nahan is, for example, used to denote repetition, continuation, addition, and succession. However, the conceptual space NAHAN is categorized into three different groups denoted by haí 還, zaì 再, and yoù 又 in Mandarin. The semantic extensions of Saisiyat nahan and Mandarin haí 還, zaì 再, and yoù 又 follow different routes, and there are collectively-agreed verbalization that can only be mastered through the real uses. In view of this, in addition to subjectification, intersubjectification and objectification, we suggest that a fourth perspective — collectivization — is crucial to the development of language. Because language is to a large extent a social product that is beyond speaker-internal cognition, studies of language have to take into consideration the power of contextualization and its impact on society.