This paper aims to demonstrate how the individual translator is to deal with the single words in a text which cause difficulties. The paper assumes that there is a role both for the use of bilingual dictionaries and for what the author calls ‘intelligent guessing’, not as a definitive solution but as a stage in a more efficient research process. The author buttresses her arguments with examples from a study of 21 practicing professional translators. Briefly, the translators were given a French news item they were asked to translate into English. As they translated, they gave a commentary on the processes in which they were engaging (a verbal or ‘think-aloud protocol) which was analyzed to identify and categorize these processes. The paper focuses on how the translators dealt with specific words and phrases from the text. These are mostly items of educational jargon, with one idiom.