The book compares and discusses the capabilities and limitations of human or conventional translation (which has normally been considered as a highly praised ‘art') and Machine Translation (nowadays considered as ‘the alternative' to conventional translation) at the beginning of the third millennium. After a description and a historical overview of both types of translation, and a quick look at the relevant terminology of the discipline, the book focuses on the state-of-the-art of translation. The author pays particular attention to: (i) the main questions affecting the theory and practice of both human translation and Machine Translation; and (ii) the most commonly accepted theoretical models that attempt to explain this ancient human activity, as well as the most recent machine translation performance. Finally, and considering the most modern and recently developed methods, as well as all the issues affecting them, the author pleads not for the rivalry and opposition of conventional and Machine Translation, but for their complementation.