Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in post-colonial and transnational translation. This interest stems on the one hand from the increasing cultural contacts in a globalizing world and on the other from the emphatic focus on representation of the Other in post-colonial theory. On the basis of such changes it can be assumed that translations change, too. If earlier there has been interest in translating the Other as „exotic‟, it can be argued that attention is now paid more to the intricacies of intercultural dialogue.

In my article, I look at the Finnish translation of one book, namely Tanuja Desai Hidier‟s youth novel Born confused (2002) translated as Sopivasti sekaisin (2004).1 I consider the strategies that the original and the translation use for making connections between the familiar and the strange. I also look at the ways in which intercultural dialogue is expressed in the novel and how this comes through in the translation. My main point is to look at what is borne across in translation: confusion or understanding?