ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the relation between intercultural communication and translational action, and provides a theoretical and methodological sound basis for research into this relation. Intercultural communication research is mainly concerned with cases in which participants fail to understand one another. The more important issue is however to reconstruct linguistic structures that enable understanding. The connection between functional equivalence and intercultural understanding can further be accounted for with reference to the concept of the dilated speech situation. The concept of the dilated speech situation is relevant for intercultural communication research and translation theory in both oral and written communication. Both interpreting and translation are characterized by a specific rupture of the original speech situation, which results from the linguistic barrier between speaker and hearer or between an author and his or her readers.
