Theories about translation and about translation equivalence that have held sway over time are discussed, and corpus exploration is introduced and practised. Methods for investigating the cognitive processes involved in translating include reports by translators themselves about their cognitive activity, but also methods that allow researchers to track translators’ behaviour – in particular their eye movements and gaze and their use of the keyboard when typing their translations. Methods for tracking brain activity during translating are introduced and explained, and the influence of emotion, a relatively recent interest in the discipline, is highlighted. Influential figures in the establishment of translation studies as an independent discipline are introduced.

The chapter begins by exploring ways of working with machine-generated or machine-stored texts. Texts produced with the aid of machine translation (MT) or with the aid of translation memories (TM) can enhance productivity, but almost without exception require significant editing. In the case of MT this usually takes place at the end of the process, in the case of TM typically during the process itself. The distinction between editing and revision is reinforced through an exercise illustrating and inviting practice of the two activities using newspaper articles. Next, the chapter explores translators’ potential uses of the internet for individual or group collaborative translation, and their varying attitudes to this type of collaboration. Finally, it introduces and illustrates an approach to translation analysis known as translational stylistics

The chapter opens with an account of human translation and the working conditions that human translators should be able to enjoy. A look at translators’ accounts of their métier emphasizes their enjoyment of the translating activity and the responsibility that they typically feel towards their source texts. The chapter also discusses machine translation (MT) and translation memories (TM), which are sometimes considered threats to human translation. However, it is equally possible that automation will enhance the roles of translators. The distinction between editing and revision is introduced and both post-editing and pre-editing are considered: pre-editing is undertaken to ensure that a first-written text can be rendered into another language as unproblematically as possible, using so-called controlled language, which contains rules for what must and what must not occur. The final section discusses the important issue of quality control of translators’ output. A set of stages of translation are identified, along with the practical measures that can be taken at each stage to ensure that the translation reaches the quality agreed between client and translation provider.

The chapter examines the notion of genre in order to distinguish different kinds of translation that are made for different purposes. Genres examined include brochures, tourism texts, community information materials, instructions for use, legal texts, medical texts, official documents, scientific writing and news texts. Next, the chapter discusses the relationships between translators and those who pay translators for their services, and the merits of self-employment and full-time employment in organizations or translation bureaus. Finally, the need for translators to understand their projected readership’s culture and their likely background understanding of the matters related to a given text is highlighted.

The chapter begins with a discussion of the societal conditions that surround translations, and notes that it is more common for economically secure cultures to translate between one another than it is for poor economies to translate into the languages of other poor economies or into the languages of rich economies. The networks and associations that translators may form are introduced, and an example of a code of conduct of the kind that these may adhere to is provided. The second part of the chapter addresses the issue of whether translated language differs in identifiable ways from non-translated language. A third section addresses different types of translators and their working conditions, and the gatekeeping roles that translators play in terms of what they decide to translate, who they admit to societies that they form, and providing access to other cultures.

The introduction explains the notion of translation used in the book, distinguishing it from other uses of the term in disciplines such as geometry, biology, social sciences, philosophy of language and the performing arts. It suggests that rather than dwelling on translation problems, the activity should be considered as an opportunity to excel cognitively and creatively.

The chapter summarizes previous chapters, presents a view of the status quo of the discipline, and looks forward to the future. If we are in an era in which translating is becoming increasingly machine aided, by increasingly ’skilled’ mechanisms, then translators will be enabled to manage the increasing demands on their time of an increasingly interconnected world.