A task is an individual work assignment that is generated when an asset that is part of a project reaches a human step in the workflow. A task has the action that corresponds to the current workflow step, and the assignee or assignees that were specified for the current workflow step.
For example, in a given two-step workflow, the first step is Translate, and the assignee is the French Translator workflow role. When the project is created, tasks are generated with an action of Translate, assigned to the French Translator workflow role. Each user in the French Translator workflow role sees these tasks in their task list. Once a task is complete, it disappears from the task list of the translator and moves to the next step, which may be Review, and is assigned to Jacques, the reviewer specified in the workflow. Jacques now has the task in his task list.
Because there can be more than one assignee for a task, a user who wants to work on a particular task must claim it. Claiming a task prevents other users from working on it. You can explicitly claim a task or automatically claim it by opening the task in the Translation Workbench or by exporting it.