mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Metaphors We Compute By: A Computational Audit of Cultural Translation vs. Thinking in LLMs

arXiv 2604.04732 ↗First posted 6 Apr 2026cs.CL cs.AIcited by 0

On the map: LLM reasoning → Reasoning benchmarks and evaluation

Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models (LLMs) are often described as multilingual because they can understand and respond in many languages. However, speaking a language is not the same as reasoning within a culture. This distinction motivates a critical question: do LLMs truly conduct culture-aware reasoning? This paper presents a preliminary computational audit of cultural inclusivity in a creative writing task. We empirically examine whether LLMs act as culturally diverse creative partners or merely as cultural translators that leverage a dominant conceptual framework with localized expressions. Using a metaphor generation task spanning five cultural settings and several abstract concepts as a case study, we find that the model exhibits stereotyped metaphor usage for certain settings, as well as Western defaultism. These findings suggest that merely prompting an LLM with a cultural identity does not guarantee culturally grounded reasoning.

Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Reasoning benchmarks and evaluation, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 1 of its 3 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 Apr 2026.

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  1. 2025Randomness, Not Representation: The Unreliability of Evaluating Cultural Alignment in LLMscited by 54

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  2. 2025Beyond Understanding: Evaluating the Pragmatic Gap in LLMs' Cultural Processing of Figurative Language
  3. 2025CURE: Cultural Understanding and Reasoning Evaluation - A Framework for "Thick" Culture Alignment Evaluation in LLMs
  4. 2025Localized Cultural Knowledge is Conserved and Controllable in Large Language Models
  5. 2025CRaFT: An Explanation-Based Framework for Evaluating Cultural Reasoning in Multilingual Language Models
  6. 2025Do Large Language Models Truly Understand Cross-cultural Differences?
  7. 2023Are Multilingual LLMs Culturally-Diverse Reasoners? An Investigation into Multicultural Proverbs and Sayings
  8. 2026XCR-Bench: Benchmarking Cross-Cultural Reasoning in LLMs via Culture-Specific Items and Hall's Triad