In language communication dealing with specialized texts it is of crucial importance that all aspects of the technical register facilitate the primary interpretation of the text leading to the right choice of the translation strategy. The article focuses on selected items used in appropriate interpretation of the original text, before the translator embarks on the final draft. Assuming that the translator possesses the three basic skills (language competence, translation skills, technical skills), the author discusses the contextual meanings of the text. The language corpus used in this analysis comes from a medical text and from legal definitions. Such texts are a challenge for the translator’s skills and cognitive knowledge. The author presents examples of ill-formed original texts, which demand from the translator the decoding of meaning, especially in the case of lexical items from general language used arbitrarily within the specialized text. The translator’s difficulties in text interpretation should be identified and discussed in the process of training translators.