This volume brings together a selection of contributions presented at the 15th European Symposium on Languages for Special Purposes held at the University of Bergamo Italy from 29 August to 2 September 2005. The conference title New Trends in Specialized Discourse reflects the emphasis given to recent orientations in research coming from established as well as new authors in the field. As suggested by the title of this volume the analysis of specialized discourse calls for a specialized discourse analysis. When applied linguists deal with vocational discourses they are faced with a double challenge on the one hand an understanding of textualisations often alien to the general language on the other hand the use of analytical tools designed specifically for their investigation. The studies presented in this volume position themselves somewhere along this continuum focusing alternatively on convergingdiverging features of texts and discourses.