This ground-breaking encyclopedia explores translation studies, currently developing into a serious field of study, with its own vocabulary, theories, and research. Baker (translation studies, Univ. of Manchester Inst. of Science and Technology) has gathered an impressive group of contributors, including Umberto Eco, Theo Mermnas, Luis Kelly, and Judith Woodsworth, to create an encyclopedia that defines this new discipline. The first part, a dictionary section, explains and defines the vocabulary and concepts in signed entries ranging from two to six pages. Entries include cross references and suggestions for further reading. The second section introduces the translation traditions of 31 cultures, including African, Greek, Chinese, Russian, and French. Each of these lengthy entries includes a history of translation in the culture, theories at work, biographies, and further reading. The complexity of communication, the direction of the academic discipline, and the richness of translation activity are all clearly illustrated.