The title of this book is based on the premise that translating and interpreting are professions. Although not all those who render translations or interpretations are professionals- in fact, a significant number of them are not- it is the premise of the authors that the profession is real and growing. Identifying all of the issues of concern to professionals in translation and interpreting would have been difficult. Therefore, this guest editor makes no claims as to the completeness of the volume. Rather, it represents a collection of articles on many of the issues about which the contributors can speak with some authority. The purpose of these introductory remarks is both to reinforce some of the observations made by the contributors and to touch on some issues not treated elsewhere in this volume.