In the present article the author argues that the gap between the university learning environment and the professional world may be narrowed if students of specialized translation expand their world to include that of the field specialist. An experiment is presented which was carried out with the author's medical translation students in the academic year 1995/96. The main aim of this experiment was to put the students in direct contact with the demands of potential clients, as well as to make them directly responsible for their work with the instructor acting as counselor, but not as problem-solver. The students had to hand in a translation to be assessed for acceptance, not only by the instructor but also by medical specialists.