In Germanic languagues which I know (Norwegian is my native language), "hard work," generally has a much narrower meaning than in American English.

But it is not merely about meaing but also about usage. The meaning of words get shaped by culture. Most Germanic cultures are strongly opposed to exaggurations, bragging and self-promotion.

Saying "I worked hard," in a Germanic language would sound really out of place and you could come across as pompous, self-centered and bragging.

In Norwegian what directly translates to "hard work," is the kind of stuff convicts do, or it would be road workers, miners etc.

Referring to white collar work as "hard work" in Norway would sound really strange. It would make it sound as if his job implied great physical pain or discomfort, which would make people really wonder what kind of strange white collar job that was.

So, what directly translated to "hard work," in Norwegian would very rarely be uttered by anyone.

If an American said "I worked real hard this week," then a Norwegian would have said "it was a busy week," or "it was a stressful week" or "it was a tough week."

Saying you "worked hard" in Norwegian would have sounded like a combination of pityful and bragging. I dunno. It would just sound strange.

If you complement somebody on their hard work you would say instead say "good job," or "good effort," or "well worked,"

I guess "hard" is generally a kind of negative word.

There are lots of differences like that which I find creates communication problems. I write a lot about society and economics. Talking about Nordic society is difficult in English because many of the concepts and words we use to describe our society has no good translation in English.

You can take word like "welfare." In American English it is a very negatively charged word. People think about "living on welfare" and "entitlement."

In Norwegian and Swedish e.g. "welfare" is an extremely positively charged word. It has about the same status as the word "freedom" in American English.

You cannot say "living on welfare" in Norwegian and Swedish as that is not really considered part of the concept of welfare. Welfare is seen more as public goods and benefits all benefit from. It is associated with words like solidarity, empathy, compassion and well being.