In this paper, the author describes teaching translation at a distance, specifically from English into Spanish, with the use of multimedia materials. The two major components in pedagogy are the support provided for the student and the multimedia materials developed from a functional or text linguistics perspective. When developing the media-based structure for a course on Translation Studies at a distance, it is important to stimulate students to acquire skills themselves, and to help them develop their sense of responsibility and ability to work independently. By a functionalist approach the author accepts that, as Mary Snell-Hornby puts it, individual items are decided by their relevance in the larger context of texts, situation and culture. According to a functional approach, translators should preserve as much as is necessary for the function of the text. They should keep functionally and formally as close to the source language text on all levels as the translation purpose allows.