Intercultural Business Communication and Translation: A 3-Dimensional Approach

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to explore the relation of intercultural business communication and translation. Having as theoretical background the writings of Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede, it is argued that intercultural business communication and translation are inextricably bound since translators act as mediators who facilitate communication between businesspeople from different cultural and linguistic bacgrounds. In this article a three-dimensional view of business translation is proposed where it is claimed that there are three ways to look at business translation, namely, from the eyes of the student aspiring to become a successful translator, from the eyes of the professional translator, and lastly, from the viewpoint of the theorist who seeks to decipher the complex process of sense-making in multi-cultural and multi-linguistic business settings.