This collection of essays addresses translation as an evolving thread that metaphorically represents the essence of contemporary society. As translation is the main tool for global information flow, the constant necessity of negotiating meanings evokes the complex issues of contact, interaction and change. Starting from a theoretical overview of Translation Studies, the volume explores the development and main changes that have characterized the field in the contemporary world, with a specific focus on the concepts of translation as hybridity, as a basis for sustaining intercultural communication and translation as cultural mediation. The essays provide an updated look at English/Italian translation across genres and cover a wide range of topics including linguistic typology; language appropriation, adaptation, manipulation and rewriting in literature and music; elusiveness and ambiguity in legal texts; humour and culture-bound language in audiovisual translation. The volume focuses on the shift from the traditional linguistic approach to translation to a multidisciplinary task. The analysis of translation in a variety of genres offers a wide opportunity to observe the complex cognitive and cultural processes activated in the transfer of meaning, perceived as a negotiation between alternatives, rather than just a list of gains and losses.