The contributors of this volume address several broad aspects of medical translation, from the cultural/historic framework of the language of medicine to pragmatic considerations of register and terminology. Their articles highlight some of the contributions translation has made to medical science and addresses some of the questions raised by those who escort the advances of medicine across language and cultural barriers and those who train the next generation of medical translators. Section 1 covers some historical and cultural aspects that have characterized the language of medicine in Japan and western Europe, with special emphasis on French and Spanish; section 2 opens some vistas on the medical translator in training with two specific university-level programs in Switzerland and in Spain, as well as an in-depth analysis of who makes the better medical translator; the medically knowledgeable linguist or the linguistically knowledgeable medical professional; and section 3 looks at several facets of the translator at work, with discussions of the translator-client relationship and the art of audience-specific translating, an insider's view of the Translation Unit of the National Institutes of Health, and a detailed study of on-line medical terminology resources.