Bagaje

[JPablo]

Chileno, I understand your view. It's a totally "generativist" one, in that you can take a word basic meaning and use it in whatever context or situation to express yourself, and express the idea you want, the way you want it. Yes, that is correct. It seems to me, however, that in terms of the "most common" collocations, i.e., what "people" use more often and/or is more used to hear or see, is one way or the other. Not that one has to be restricted by this nebulous thing "the common usage", but it is a parameter (which sometimes can be opinionated) to judge our own communication and make it "agree" with the common usage. Yes, I can experience nausea, or any bad feeling, for that matter, and/or my dad experienced the last year of Spanish civil war 1938-39 as a young recruit, however he never allowed that traumatic baggage to hinder his progress in life...
I guess you could play with these words at infinitum, and you could make them mean what you wanted in different contexts, depending on your skill as a writer...
At any rate, I hope this thread doesn't become a baggage for anyone, and can be analyzed fully, to full understanding.
De esa forma, nuestro bagaje lingüístico habrá aumentado, de manera tal que podamos usar estos términos con absoluta propiedad... si es que un concepto de "absoluto" es alcanzable en grado alguno. :)

[poli]

Right. It is the same thing in Spanish.

Now consider this:

She's an recovering alcoholic who has
been through a nasty divorce and recently lost custody of her five
children. She's had quite an experience.

Is it negative or positive?

See what I mean? :)
To have an experience is neither positive nor negative and is subject to context. To carry a lot of baggage is not good--no nuance needed.

[chileno]

To have an experience is neither positive nor negative and is subject to context. To carry a lot of baggage is not good--no nuance needed.

And cultural baggage?

[poli]

The term cultural baggage doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me unless
the cultural influence left bad scars on it's victims (forced marriage at 12
years old or some traumatizing cultural traditions). But generally cultural
and baggage don't go together (at least to my ear)

[Perikles]

And cultural baggage?I agree with Poli - in English this would be a negative asset and rather unlikely. Something positive would have to be expressed as cultural experience or cultural knowledge.

[chileno]

Ok. Thanks for your patience.

[JPablo]

Patience is the greatest of all virtues. Cato the Elder :)
(http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Cato_the_Elder/)