At a time when information technology has become a regular tool of specialized translators in all aspects of their work, it is useful to place the activity of technical translation into its appropriate environment, and to describe it from the point of view of its role in the broader context of communication it which it occurs. The advent of automated alternatives to human translation has fundamentally affected the profession, its products and the relationship between translators and their clients. background. The context in which translation is normally studied is widened in order to...