Bringing Translation Out of the Shadows: Translation as an Issue of Methodological Significance in Cross-Cultural Qualitative Research

Translation is an integral component of cross-cultural research that has remained invisible. It is commonly assumed that translation is an objective and neutral process, in which the translators are “technicians” in producing texts in different languages. Drawing from the field of translation studies and the findings of a translation exercise conducted with three bilingual Cantonese-English translators, the authors highlight some of the methodological issues about translation in cross-cultural qualitative research. They argue that only by making translation visible and through open dialogue can researchers uncover the richness embedded in the research data and facilitate multiple ways of knowing.