Translation research has focused on parameters that affect the translation product in various ways. Cultural identities, normative conventions, and ethical issues have all been taken into account in quality assessment. Here an attempt is made to underline a parameter that affects the translation product by triggering unexpected variation in target texts. The analysis of empirical data shows that the urgency to transmit a message - and consequently an increase in the translator's involvement - is a parameter that may distort preferred target-culture patterns in the construction of the message. This situation points to an ethics of communication where emphasis is not on representing the Other but on communicating with the Other. Here the translator has an explicit presence and does not remain an invisible linguistic figure, as professional ethics might otherwise require.