TRANSLATORS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE AND TRANSLATION AS AFFECTIVE WORK Kaisa Koskinen School of Humanities University of Eastern Finland P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland This article discusses how translation as one form of intercultural language work, is complicated by what has recently been discussed under the title of superdiversity, that is, the increased linguistic, ethnic and cultural hybridity of our societies. <...> Superdiversity forces us to acknowledge the affective nature of translation work, thus foregrounding the role of empathy. <...> The author argues that many traditional Translation Studies approaches need to be refined to remain valid in contemporary superdiverse societies, and that translator training and translation research alike would benefit from a critical reassessment of their underlying culture concepts. <...> INTRODUCTION: TRANSLATION AS INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION An Internet search with the string “translation as intercultural” gives an endless list of hits. <...> Translation is discussed as intercultural communication; intercultural communication tool; intercultural mediation; intercultural intermediation; intercultural exchange; intercultural transfer; intercultural practice; intercultural event; intercultural action; intercultural activity; and intercultural conflict. <...> Indeed, it has become a truism in Translation Studies to say that translation is a form of intercultural communication (for details, see Katan 2009). <...> It feels safe to argue that most translation scholars would agree with this notion, and that many practitioners would agree. <...> A recent EU project on intercultural competence in translator training conducted a situational survey among translation teachers and students in seven European countries (PICT 2012). <...> The results depicted a rather varied field across the countries involved, but generally high levels of awareness of intercultural issues both among teachers and students. <...> The most important area was, in responses from most countries, considered to be “general knowledge of ‘Culture’ (e.g. institutions, politics, current affairs, religion, geography, the arts)”. <...> This emphasis on cultural knowledge is a traditional stronghold in many translator training institutions. <...> Undoubtedly, it is indeed valuable knowledge for any aspiring translator, but one can question whether 175 Russian Journal of Linguistics, Vestnik RUDN, 2015, N. 4 this is the core of intercultural competence, and whether a more fine-grained differentiation between cultural competence, cross-cultural competence <...>