“Translation” and the Cultural and Civilizational Context:Linguistic Action as a Knowledge of Self and Other

Can translation be considered as a mediating tool in the cross-cultural field? To answer this question, this paper has taken an interdisciplinary approach and explored different perspectives, from anthropology to translation, from linguistics to the understanding of cultures. In the first step, the concept of "translation" is explored in anthropology. It will be shown here that ethnography is a text from another and its culture from which any interpretation is considered a translation. Thus, for the anthropologist, "translation" means acquiring the depth of onechr('39')s experience of the "other" and transferring it to those who seek to understand the depth of very different experiences. The process of transferring this experience requires a further movement in adapting to the cultural space: analyzing and understanding the "other" and his behaviors and ultimately returning to self. In the second step, the question is to what extent this anthropological conception of translation can fit into a translation theory that is at the same time a life experience as well as a source of cultural cognition. And finally, to what extent this type of linguistic translation, for example the translation of "visual expressions" in one culture, can lead to a solid cognitive experience of the "other".