Culture

In the English-speaking world, culture is a “top look-up”, supporting Raymond William’s comment that “[c]ulture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language”. With the development of disciplines such as cultural studies, a distinctly different meaning has emerged, with culture being understood as an ideological force operating on society. Interculturalists, such as E. T. Hall, who coined the term intercultural communication, have attempted to isolate communication orientations based on the core values of a community, usually defined in national terms. The need to safeguard a culture’s particular constellation of values against the Anglo-American driven homogenization is stressed by many. Culture has traditionally been viewed in terms of an identifying entity – whether it be a cultureme, a way of acting or a value – which through translation may be protected, distorted or lost. In translation studies, scholars drawing on polysystem theory, postcolonial theory and narrative theory all focus on this more reflective level of culture.