Schleiermacher's text is a landmark in the theory of translation. After discussing the asymmetric nature of language, he establishes two basic translation modes: bringing the author to the reader (giving priority to readability and normalization) or taking the reader to the author (giving priority to the source-text world and, thus, making reading more difficult but, simultaneously, providing a more faithful image of the author's world and style). For great works of art, Schleiermacher prefers the latter. For instrumental texts (technical and scientific works), he speaks of translation as a mechanical activity.