In their forward to this book, Hatim and Mason point out that their intention is not to teach translators how to translate. They consider (quite rightly) that that would be presumptuous, in particular because they are using translators as their source of "evidence for what we know about translating". Evidently it is also not their intention that Discourse and the Translator should be used by teachers of translation to teach translation students and inexperienced translators how to translate. This opens the questions of what precisely their purpose was in producing this book. Their stated aim is to "relate an integrated account of discourse processes to the practical concerns of the translator" and to "provide pointers to areas for further research". In their forward to this book, Hatim and Mason point out that their intention is not to teach translators how to translate. They consider (quite rightly) that that would be presumptuous, in particular because they are using translators as their source of "evidence for what we know about translating". Evidently it is also not their intention that Discourse and the Translator should be used by teachers of translation to teach translation students and inexperienced translators how to translate. This opens the questions of what precisely their purpose was in producing this book. Their stated aim is to "relate an integrated account of discourse processes to the practical concerns of the translator" and to "provide pointers to areas for further research".