---
title: "HEALTH AND CULTURE: \"Why Cambodians Never Get Depressed\", NPR — #1 Medical Spanish eLearning | Canopy Innovations"
description: "\"People in Cambodia experience what we Americans call depression. But there's no direct translation for the word \"depression\" in the Cambodian Khmer language. Instead, people may say thelea tdeuk ceut, which literally means \"th e water in my heart has fallen.”"
image: https://blog.withcanopy.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/1427382671849.png
---
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# HEALTH AND CULTURE: "Why Cambodians Never Get Depressed", NPR
Posted by [Anny Zhang](https://blog.withcanopy.com/author/anny-zhang) on Apr 8, 2015 12:00:00 AM
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Read full article [here](http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/02/382905977/why-cambodians-never-get-depressed)
This is a short piece from earlier in February that everyone should read. Translation for healthcare is so much more than just finding the correct technical phrases to convey medical information. Maladies exist differently and vary according to cultural contexts.
"People in Cambodia experience what we Americans call depression. But there's no direct translation for the word "depression" in the Cambodian Khmer language. Instead, people may say thelea tdeuk ceut, which literally means "the water in my heart has fallen.”
Translation of language needs to be sensitive to culture. Healthcare providers and medical interpreters need to be receptive to different patients’ ways of articulating and experiencing their illness.
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