ABSTRACT
The previous chapter discussed ethnographic representation as a kind of translation and the objections to that metaphor, bearing in mind that even if we don't accept the metaphorical use of ‘translation’, ethnography still relies on translation in the narrower, practical sense. In both senses, translation is faced with a controversial question: how ‘translatable’ are language-cultures? In other words, is there or is there not enough common ground between human cultures to enable meaningful translation?
