Although translations from the vernacular into Latin have been relatively neglected – why would anyone make a translation in the “wrong” direction”, from a modern language into an ancient one? – there are in fact many to be found. This testifies not only to the widespread knowledge of Latin, but also to the fact that many educated people outside frontier regions found foreign vernaculars difficult if not impossible to read. Compared to what was available for the teaching of Latin, facilities for the teaching of Italian, Spanish and French in schools, colleges and universities were extremely limited, while they were virtually non-existent for the teaching of other languages, like English, which was rarely taught before the 18th century. In this article, the author discusses what was translated into Latin from the invention of printing until the year 1799. He discusses from what languages texts were translated, by whom, for whom, when and where, and what the main linguistic problems were for the translators.