Because language and culture are intertwined, linguistic translation brings with it cultural translation. At the same time, cultural assertion is part of the dynamic of decolonization. Using theoretical perspectives on culture offered by Bourdieu and focusing on several "signature concepts" of Irish culture, this chapter argues that the representation of culture - particularly the culture of a colonized people - is never innocent. Three translation strategies are contrasted as responses to the alterity represented by Irish culture - an assimilationist strategy, a dialectical strategy, and an ostensive strategy - and compared with stages in the decolonization of an oppressed people. This chapter explores paradoxes of constructing a national culture, projecting a timetable for change in nations like Ireland that are emerging from colonization and cultural imperialism.