A method of translating a source message having a first set of defined word fields in a source message format, into a sink message having a second set of defined word fields in a desired sink message format. A common message format (CMF) is defined to have a third set of word fields that corresponds to a union of the first and the second sets of word fields. For any given word field in the third set of word fields in the CMF, information contained in a corresponding word field in the source message, if any, is mapped to the given word field in the CMF. For any given word field in the second set of word fields in the sink message format, information contained in a corresponding word field of the CMF, if any, is mapped to the given word field in the sink message.