ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in subsequent chapter of this book. The book offers practical tools and methods for making reader-orientedness an explicit part of the translation process. User-Centered Translation (UCT) is, in other words, closely related to functional translation theories, and we consider the UCT tools as a means to operationalize the ideas of translation as a purposeful and skopos-oriented action. The methods described in this book allow translators to obtain empirical proof of actual readers and their needs and preferences. To empower translators and to widen the palette of services that they can offer, they have turned their attention to interfaces between usability research and translation. It takes advantage of elements from technical communication where appropriate. The connection between translation studies and technical communication is, in fact, quite logical, as many technical communicators who design and write technical documentation were originally trained as translators and they produce texts that often end up being translated.
