This work is a translation of the first part of L'analyse du discours comme méthode de traduction: théorie et pratique. Addressing both apprentice translators as teachers and practitioners of translation, Delisle proposses to renew the translation pedagogics by presenting an original initiation method for the translation of pragmatic texts. In the introduction the author lists several epistemological and methodological problems of teaching translation and the theoretical basis and general objectives are explained. In the first chapter the author starts out by describing the application field of his method, then he examines the nature of the translator's bilingualism and finally he attempts to reveal the differences between translation in school and professional translation. In the second chapter the theoretical basis is presented. The author makes an analysis of the contribution of semiotic, linguistic, sociolinguistic and comparitive theories, especially drawing from the interpretative theory of the Paris School. The author makes a distinction between two types of equivalence: transcoded and contextual equivalence. This distinction enables the author to get a better understanding of the cognitive process of translation. In the third chapter the focus is on the general principles of language usage. Four major problems are discussed: 1) writing conventions; 2) lexical exegesis; 3) the interpretation of style; 4) the "organicity" of a text.