Language varieties correspond to geographical variation, giving rise to different geographical dialects. It should be noted that demarcation lines between regional varieties are drawn not always on linguistic grounds but often in the light of political or cultural considerations (e. g. the situation of Dutch vis-a-vis German, where a geographical boundary based on linguistic considerations alone would be difficult to determine) . Another misconception surrounding geographical variation is that a given variety has the same status throughout the area where it is spoken (e. g. the notion that only one variety of English is used in, say southern England). The dynamics of geographical variation are too complex to pigeonhole neatly; the notion of a "continuum" with inevitable overlaps may be necessary for a better understanding not only of geographical variation but of other types of dialect as well. An awareness of geographical variation, and of the ideological and political implications that it may have, is therefore essential for translators and interpreters. Accent, for example, is one of the more recognizable features of geographical variation and is often a source of problems. We recall the controversy in Scotland a few years ago over the use of Scottish accents in representing the speech of Russian peasants in TV dramatization of a foreign play. The inference was allowed that a Scottish accent might somehow be associated with low status, something which, no doubt, was not intended. The difficulty of achieving dialectal equivalence in translation will be apparent to anyone who has translated for the stage. Rendering source-text dialect by target-language standard has the disadvantage of losing the special effect intended in the source text, while rendering dialect by dialect runs the risk of creating unintended effects. At a more general level, sensitivity to the various accents and lexicon-grammatical features of different geographical dialects is the hallmark of the competent interpreter at international conferences. (306 words)