ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some basic insights into the role of culture and ideology in translation. The concept of ‘culture’ has been the concern of many different disciplines, such as philosophy, sociology, anthropology, literature and cultural studies, and the definitions offered in these fields vary according to the particular frame of reference invoked. The humanistic concept of culture captures the ‘cultural heritage’ as a model of refinement, an exclusive collection of a community’s masterpieces in literature, fine arts, music, etc. Culture has often been linked with language. In the past, cultures have often been associated with race, ethnicity, nation or region, lending themselves to cultural stereotypes, national mentalities and national characters. Along with the recent rise of post-modernist thinking in the humanities, the whole notion of culture has for some time now also come under attack.
