Question

When general semanticists use the expression, "the map is not the territory," to which language barrier are they referring?

Answer 1

The expression "the map is not the territory", was first said by the Polish scientist, Alfred Korzybski.

It is a metaphor. There is the reality of something (as perceived by the senses).  And there are labels, symbols, abstraction of that reality created by the mind/thought for the sake  of convenience, communication, or to make undersanding easier. We are often looking at maps rather than the territory, without realising it. Mind is an expert at doing this.

Korzybski held that many people do confuse maps with territories, that is, confuse models of reality with reality itself. In other words, the description of the thing is not the thing itself. The model is not reality.