In this article a number of approaches to translation studies are taken into consideration, in order to explore the possibility of developing a model which could bring together the socio-cultural and the individual aspects of translation. The author demonstrates that the dichotomy between descriptive and explanatory models can be superseded by adopting a methodology that concentrates on the local dimension of translation. By bringing together the various facets of translation phenomena (i.e. the social, linguistic, cultural aspects), and focusing on their material specificity, localism projects a limited but comprehensive image of translation and its social environment. Such an image stands for the original in a metonymic way: working via connection, this model produces multiple meanings, instead of striving for unique solutions.