This essay examines the cultural turn that has taken place in Translation Studies over the past decade, and shows how parallel trends can be discerned in other disciplines. The author explores developments in Cultural Studies, suggesting that just as there has been greater emphasis on cultural issues in Translation Studies, so there is a growing interest in translation in the work of contemporary cultural theorists. Both Translation Studies and Cultural Studies are interdisciplinary fields, dialogic in nature, and involve complex processes of encoding and decoding. The essay concludes with suggestions for closer co-operation between practitioners of both fields, and the growing interest in travel writing is cited as an example of this trend.