Martin Cassell Oct 28, 2011:

in vacuo translation? there is no such thing as an in vacuo translation.
unless these two words are your entire translation project, and you have been given no brief whatsoever, not even the domain, of course there is context.

it may not be instantly obvious to you how it helps, but so often a native speaker, or someone who knows the field well, will be guided by the smallest of hints elsewhere in the context -- merely the accumulation of vocabulary will often help to narrow down the sub-domain.

what is the purpose of the document/software/spreadsheet/list?
if it's in a list, what are the neighbouring entries?
...

-- or indeed may help someone with knowledge of the field to spot a proper name, as in Bronislava's reference.

claude-andrew Oct 28, 2011:

Ambiguous Careful, "hands" can mean assistants (e.g. stage hands). Can you really give no more context, however vague?