Introduction

Translators have constantly complained that translation is underestimated as a profession. In summing up the first conference held by the Institute of Translation and Interpreting in Britain, Professor David Bellos stated, 'The main impetus and concern of this first Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) Conference was the unjustly low status in professional terms of the translator. The translation community itself has traditionally been guilty of underestimating not so much the value as the complexity of the translation process and hence the need for formal professional training in the field, though this situation is thankfully changing quite rapidly. Linguistics is a discipline which studies language both in its own right and as a tool for generating meanings. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.