This question comes from questions in japanese SE. Keiyōshi 形容詞 are translated as adjectives. Meishi 名詞 are translated as nouns. But are they really the same kind of words that we mean with nouns, adjectives, etc. in English?
I've already found 3 examples that arises a lot of doubts in me if they are the same thing. The first is a japanese word that I can't remember right now but that I've seen used as a noun, adjective or verb. May be there are words like these in English or Spanish, but I'm not sure if they are the same. For example the word paddle can be a verb, a noun or an adjective in English.
The second is japanese words that they see as a noun and that we see as adjectives. The word "next" for japaneses is a clear noun. They know that it can be used as an adjective, but when giving an example of when it is used as a noun (what it really is according to japanese), I got this "when is the next?" that is a sentence that could come in a conversation between 2 persons about events , and one of them ask the other "when is the next (event)?" . wouldnt it be for english speakers, still an adjective because it modifies an implicit noun (event)?
And the third is the word "suki" and similar words, that they see as a verb and it's translated as "to like" but it is used next to the verb desu (to be)
So my question is, are what we translate as adjectives, verbs, etc, from other non indoeuropean languages, really what we understand as verbs, adjectives, etc?