Since the basic unit of this Manual is the Chapter, it is always a good idea to read the chapter introductions (which are offered consecutively in English, then in Spanish) in order to contextualise the subsequent material. After the introduction, all chapters are divided into two sections, the first focusing on the translation into English of texts in Spanish, the second concentrating on the inverse procedure. Each of these sections presents between one and three source texts and their corresponding target texts (or translations), presented adjacently on the page, and followed by a commentary describing relevant features. Commentary is in the target language of each section (that is, if the translation discussed is into English, the commentary is in English, likewise for Spanish). These are essentially reference materials designed to familiarise students or aspiring translators from both language backgrounds with aspects of translation in the specific area of discourse addressed by the given chapter. They can be critiqued together in class on an unseen basis, or studied outside the classroom for subsequent discussion.

After these sections of commented, pre-translated material, a section of Exercises provides material for practice and for reinforcing the concepts acquired in the chapter. Some exercises, inevitably, consist of translating similar texts to those analysed in the commented sections. The authors have made every attempt, nonetheless, to propose other types of exercise not necessarily involving the standard translation of passages, in response to the impression that many students find the translation class monotonous because of its apparently exclusive focus on a single process, that of actually rendering a text in another language. Since this is in fact only the visible middle section of what is ideally a considerably longer process – involving analysis of the ST, consultation of similar material in the same area of discourse (particularly in the TT) and of appropriate reference works, the translation process itself, and proofreading (if possible by both the translator and by expert third parties) – it makes sense to include exercises that foreground activities other than the act of purely generating translations. Many deficiencies in translations are traceable to inadequate preparation before starting or lax quality-control mechanisms after drafting the target text. Since this and other constraints on the translation process are not understood by many non-specialists, particularly if they are monolingual, submission dates for professional translations often simply do not allow for adequate pre- and post-production phases of this kind. Good practice at the training stage, however, develops awareness of the importance of these phases, which in turn allows translators at least to aspire to high quality, to negotiate realistic deadlines when they are able, and to know when and how their translations are susceptible to improvement. All chapters have a section of notes at the end of the printed volume giving references for the texts used and any other relevant information. Bold text is used for two specialised purposes in this Manual: where it highlights specific terms in sections of commentary and discussions, it indicates a technical term for which a definition appears in the glossary at the end of the printed Manual or on the website; in target texts (the right-hand column of the parallel texts in each chapter), emboldened text preceded by a superscript letter indicates a section of text which is specifically discussed in the commentary below, where the same text will appear alongside the same letter for ease of reference.

In the commentaries, italics are used to highlight words or phrases in a different language from that of the commentary (that is, in the great majority of instances, words or phrases appearing in Spanish in the commentary in English, words or phrases appearing in English in the commentary in Spanish). Where such words or phrases are also direct quotations from the target text above, they are also enclosed in quotation marks to indicate this.

With regard to the website, it is frequently used simply as a device to separate a ST in the Manual from a TT that appears only on the website, so that users of the printed text can produce their own TTs without undue influence from existing versions (this of course means resisting the temptation to peek at the website before attempting your own version). Where the specific web page includes a translation of a text that readers are invited to attempt first in the printed text, a warning to this effect will initially appear in place of the translation, in order to avoid “contamination by accidental exposure” to a pre-existing version. The site also contains, however, supplementary exercises and other materials that do not correspond to any direct reference from the printed text. The site content is largely divided according to the chapter headings and other sections of the printed text, whilst other supplementary materials are self-explanatory.