A translated joke reveals how much meaning lives outside the dictionary.

Humour depends on shared reference, timing, sound, and a common sense of what is unexpected. Translate the words exactly and the joke usually dies, which demonstrates how much of meaning lives outside the definitions of the individual words and inside the context that surrounds them.

The same gap operates whenever you communicate across any kind of difference, professional, generational, cultural. If something you said did not land, consider that the shared context may be missing rather than the attention. Supplying the missing background is usually more effective than repeating yourself.