Translating Is Not Treason—Talking to Each Other About Interculturality

Abstract

This chapter is dedicated to translation. In their work, the authors constantly discuss the translation of words used to deal with interculturality in order to avoid ‘untranslatability’, ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘non-understanding’, but, maybe, more importantly, in order to rebalance the power relations between East and West. Renegotiating translation enriches how we can benefit from engaging with interculturality as an object of research and education. Their students’ discussions are also included to show how they reflect themselves on the process of translating Chinese ideologies of interculturality for the outside world. All in all, the authors warn against taking translation lightly when it comes to unthinking and rethinking interculturality, by showing examples of misusing/simplifying the translation of Chinese ‘concepts’ to essentialize the Chinese. Dialogue between scholars and students from around the world is needed more than ever to ensure that more voices are heard about what interculturality could be and entail.