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Translation and Intercultural Communication: Bridges and Barriers
Introduction
The link between translation and intercultural communication might seem too obvious to need stating. Some have quite simply defined one in terms of the other: according to Quale (2003: 154), “translation is communication across cultures.” Snell-Hornby (1988: 26) describes translation as “a cross-cultural event,” while Álvarez and Carmen-África Vidal describe it as “transporting one entire culture to another” (1996: 5). From the latest theoretical debates on translation to the passing comments of non-specialists, we find the same metaphors used: translation is portrayed as a bridge between peoples or cultures, as a means of crossing borders or of breaking through barriers (the bibliography for this chapter provides a few examples: see the titles used by Lehman-Wilzig 2001; Temple and Edwards 2002; Sousa Ribeiro 2004; Belluomini 2006). As Koskinen (2004: 144) remarks, “it has almost become a platitude to state that one does not translate across languages but across cultures.”
Yet it should be recognized that translation does not always serve as a vehicle for communicating across cultures, simply because language boundaries do not always correspond to cultural boundaries. There are bilingual communities where two languages are used side by side, and where indeed much translation may go on to ensure the provision of parallel texts in both. Materials are sometimes translated for purely ...
