In this paper José Lambert draws attention to the problematic nature of the interdisciplinarity of translation studies. Translation is mostly treated simplistically within other disciplines, and the author wonders how translation could play a role in other disciplines. He suggests that translation studies should demonstrate its importance to other disciplines such as language studies, or film or literature studies. Translation, as a matter of culture, should not be kept isolated in a separate discipline. Translation research will only be taken seriously if other disciplines realize their need to study translational phenomena.