12. A system for translating statements in a computer program, comprising: a processor; a computer readable storage device including a translator executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing a mnemonic in the computer program having a user defined definition and a translator definition; processing a first mnemonic command specifying the mnemonic and the user defined definition; interpreting the mnemonic in the first mnemonic command according to the user defined definition in response to a first interpretation setting provided when the first mnemonic command was last processed specifying the mnemonic and the user defined definition; processing a second mnemonic command specifying the mnemonic and the translator definition after interpreting the mnemonic according to the user defined definition; interpreting the mnemonic in the second mnemonic command according to the translator definition in response to a second interpretation setting provided when the second mnemonic command was last processed specifying the mnemonic and the translator definition; updating a global flag in a mnemonic table for the mnemonic indicating to interpret the mnemonic with the user defined or translator definition specified in a global mnemonic command having global scope in response to processing the global mnemonic command; and updating a local flag in the mnemonic table for the mnemonic indicating to interpret the mnemonic with the user defined or translator definition specified in a local mnemonic command having local scope in response to processing the local mnemonic command, wherein the local interpretation overrides the global interpretation indicated by the global flag.
15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first and second mnemonic commands have a global scope to apply to all instances of the mnemonic in the computer program, with an exception for subsequent mnemonic commands for the mnemonic that override the mnemonic command for the mnemonic having the global scope.