At any given moment in its evolution, language is stratified not only into linguistic dialects in the strict sense of the word (according to formal linguistic markers, especially phonetic), but also into languages that are socio-ideological: languages of social groups, ‘professional’ and ‘generic’ languages, languages of generations and so forth (Bakhtin 1981). This broader definition of language suggests that people are all engaged in more or less constant acts of translation. The languages children experience at school, family languages and professional languages all must be translated before they can be understood by those who are not a part of the group that uses them. In this chapter, the author will discuss translation in terms of national languages, but ‘translation’ is used primarily in this sub-linguistic, Bakhtinian sense. Ultimately, Cutchins would like to understand translation as an analog of adaptation, and Bakhtin’s broader understanding of language and translation suggests that this may be appropriate.