By emphasizing, using English-German examples, the notion of factor set, this book fosters the awareness that successful and adequate translation requires properly accounting for the pertinent translation factors in each individual case. The factor approach gives translation criticism an objective yardstick for assessing the quality of translations . The authors explore the linguistic factors, including treatment of illocution and its indeterminacy, and perlocution, as well as non-linguistic factors such as factuality, situation, and culture. The book also includes aspects more genuinely linked to the notion of translation itself, such as translation units and word class and the nature and status of factors in translation theory.