The Editors: Christopher N. Candlin is Senior Research Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney. He holds Honorary Professorships at the Universities of Lancaster, Nottingham and Cardiff (UK), and is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the UK Open University and Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Health Communication Research at Cardiff. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several international journals, and edits or co-edits seven international book series. From 1996 to 2002 he was President of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA).Maurizio Gotti is Professor of English and Director of the Language Centre at the University of Bergamo. He is currently President of CERCLES (the European Confederation of University Language Centres) and Director of CERLIS, the research centre on specialized languages based at the University of Bergamo. From 1999 to 2001 he was President of AIA (Italian Association of English Studies).

• Contents: Maurizio Gotti: Introduction – Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini: Intercultural Business Discourse – Marina Bondi: «If you think this sounds very complicated, you are correct»: Awareness of Cultural Difference in Specialized Discourse – Poul Erik Flyvholm Jørgensen/Hilkka Yli-Jokipii: Intercultural EU Discourse: The Rhetorical Design of Academic Journalese by Danish and Finnish Professionals – Marinel Gerritsen/Catherine Nickerson: Fact or Fallacy? English as an L2 in the Dutch Business Context – Maria Grazia Guido: Cross-cultural Miscommunication in Welfare Officers’ Interrogations – Françoise Salager-Meyer/María Angeles Alcaraz Ariza: Negative Appraisals in Academic Book Reviews: A Cross-linguistic Approach – Gina Poncini: Communicating Local Elements to Diverse Audiences: Promotional Materials for Wineries – Marta Chromá: Cross-Cultural Traps in Legal Translation – Paola Evangelisti Allori: International Arbitration in Different Settings: Same or Different Practice? – Giuditta Caliendo: Modality and Communicative Interaction in EU Law – Vijay K. Bhatia/Aditi Bhatia: Global Genres in Local Contexts – Giuseppina Cortese: Pro-social Advocacy on the Web: The Case of Street Children – Giuliana Garzone: Annual Company Reports and CEOs’ Letters: Discoursal Features and Cultural Markedness – Michelangelo Conoscenti: Virtual Diplomacy: A Case Study of Conversational Practices in an Intercultural Setting.