ABSTRACT
Cultural translation then opens up new ways of thinking about translation in social contexts. The paradigm ceases to function as translation theory when it can no longer address translations, and the author suspect that much of the work done on cultural translation would be better branded as "intercultural studies". The aim of translation is simultaneously to put Catholic culture into the target culture, and to bring the target culture within Catholic culture. Most translators think translation goes from one culture to another, but the Vatican, along with many proponents of cultural translation, knows better: inculturation involves, very ideally, a double movement rather than a simple one-way translation: "Through inculturation the Church makes the Gospel incarnate in different cultures and at the same time introduces peoples, together with their cultures, into her own community". The descriptive paradigm, it stands at the center of translation research and cannot be ignored, but it must be made to reflect critically on the role of describer.
