This paper focuses on the centrality of meaning in the practice of translation. Since this
major concern is also shared by Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday 1994; Halliday
& Matthiessen 2004), which considers language a meaning making resource, it is argued
that such an approach could serve as a helpful tool for translator education and
training. After a theoretical first part, where the relevance of Systemic Functional
Linguistics to the activity of translating is discussed and a cursory sketch of its key
notions is outlined, the paper moves on to present illustrative segments from a small
selection of English sample texts and of their translation into Italian. Dealing with
different text types, and drawing on authentic teaching assignments, some
lexicogrammatical features are analysed in order to identify the multidimensional
meanings being realized. Special focus is on modality, ideational grammatical
metaphor, thematic progression and also on appraisal systems, a model for evaluation
recently developed within the framework of Hallidayan linguistics (Martin & White
2005). The empirical examples are offered to show that a based on this
perspective might represent for the translator an ideal “set of resources for describing,
interpreting and making meaning” (Butt et al. 2000: 3).
