The subject matter chosen for the scientific symposium jointly organized bythe University of Milan and ISIT-Paris is the path from discourse analysis totranslation. However, discourse analysis and translation are not to be consideredas two distinct operations. In that title, translation is to be understood not somuch as an exercise separated from discourse analysis, but as the outcome of asequence of cognitive operations including discourse analysis. In other words,discourse analysis is only a first step in the translating process leading to theproduction of a translated text. Moreover, the application fields being institutionand media discourses, it is relevant on one hand to investigate on thedifferences between those two large areas, that justify the implementation ofa different processing and, on the other hand, to point out the similarities thatenable a common processing. A short analysis of the specificities of each ofthose subject areas with respect to the translating process shows major differencesdue to diverse communication situations. As a consequence, distinct strategiesare appropriate according to the purpose of the communication process.