The article discusses the translator ’s dynamic task of providing a faithful presentation of the message understood from a written text. Translation can be described in both literature and specialized communication as a process in which hermeneutics and linguistics are combined. Examples from eco¬nomic texts are given. Understanding refers to holistic comprehension of the overall message, based on hermeneutically relevant knowledge and it can be retrospectively traced back to the semantic input. Translational text produc¬tion on the other hand, is guided by a global formulation strategy following rhetorical aims and schematic text type norms that finds its linguistic expres¬sion in functional and stylistic decisions.