This paper is an attempt to apply Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory to the social practise of translating by analysing the habitus of Siegfried Trebitsch, the long-term translator of George Bernard Shaw. Such an analysis shows the crucial influence of the habitus on the practical decisions of a translator. The habitus and the position of the translator in the literary field are decisive for the positioning of the translated author. The differences in the habitus of Shaw and Trebitsch partly explain the different positions Shaw occupies in England and in the German-speaking countries.