This paper discusses the innovative theoretical thinking of Atso Vuoristo (1929–2009), a prominent figure in the history and development of translator training in Turku and Finland, and an influential pedagogue within the community of translation teachers and students in Turku from 1966 to 1993. Vuoristo did not publish his theorizations; thus, the aim of the article is to present one of his basic concepts, translational communication (käännösviestintä), and his analytical tool, layers of functionality (toimivuuden tasot). Both reflect a holistic, dynamic and non-binary, that is, complex communicative approach to translation as a human activity, connected with other human activities. Vuoristo’s conceptual tools were not only ahead of his time but they also seem still relevant today: while he may be classified as a functionalist theorist, he offers a multifaceted theoretical framework beyond the functionalist school for the exploration of the phenomenon of translation, connecting with, for example, sociological and complexity approaches to translation. The material used in this study consists of his unfinished book manuscript he was working on between 1993 and 2001 and his course material from 1982–1984.