Response to Kevin Power’s Foulkes Lecture ‘On the impulse to impart’. Reflections on language, culture, translation and migration

Yarning circles of the Australian aboriginal peoples are an example of how culture has evolved through the sharing of stories and experiences with others over time. They illustrate how language, culture, identity and geographical location are inextricably linked. Australian aboriginal languages are unique and unrelated to any other language group due to having developed in a place completely cut off from the rest of the world, but all languages and cultures are linked to particular locations and distinct groups of people. There are over 7,000 languages spoken in the world today. So how are we to overcome the barriers created by the existence of so many different languages and cultures? Is it possible to translate culture as well as language? What is involved in making the transition from one language and culture to another?