 hen the Translation Journal was launched, back in 1997, it had to rely on the editor's personal acquaintance with translators who possessed special knowledge in certain areas and ask them to share this knowledge on the pages of the TJ. Now, six years later, we are receiving offers of contributions from all over the world, and we must regretfully decline some of these offers for different reasons.
The most frequent reason for rejecting an article is that it deals with subjects too specific to some language other than the major European languages. We have stated, on the Call for Papers page of this Journal, that, while we recognize the importance of languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and others, we try to limit ourselves to the major European languages, where we have ample editing resources, and which we believe are of interest to the majority of our readers. We can, however, accept articles dealing with any language when the issue discussed is also applicable to other languages. Other reasons for non-acceptance may include lack of informative content, subjects not directly related to translation, and duplication of topics.
Now that we are receiving almost more spontaneous offers of contribution than we can handle, it is time to reconfirm the purpose of this publication. Our original aim, which has not changed in the past six years, is to provide a useful source of information to working translators. We do not intend to become a journal specializing in translation theory or translator education—important as these areas are, we'd rather leave them, as well as translation into and from "exotic" languages, to other publications. We wish to provide answers to questions translators face in their work: Where to find terminology sources in different subject matter areas; how to market ourselves in the global marketplace; how to use computer tools more effectively; how to handle certain difficult translation issues, etc. We also wish to provide a medium where translators from different countries present the specific issues they face. The list of possible topics is endless, as the variety of articles published so far shows. If you have special knowledge in any of these or other areas of interest to your fellow translators, please come forward and share your knowledge with us. If your only purpose is to see your name on the Web or to enhance your curriculum, please, look for other media, which will be happy to accommodate you. The Translation Journal is and wishes to remain a useful tool and interesting reading for professional translators and interpreters.
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