The paper joins forces with the increasing amount of literature on translation and cultural studies and places translation in the context of cross-cultural communication. Accepting that cultural differences affect communication, one can anticipate that the incorporation of cross-cultural research is vital for the production of effective materials when creating target-oriented texts. In the following pages, this hypothesis will be tested through the analysis of a specific kind of text produced for a specific audience, that is, translated HIV/AIDS-prevention materials for the Hispanic community in the USA. Therefore, past empirical research investigating some factors associated with HIV prevention such as source, message, channel, and receiver will be reviewed; secondly, the implications of these findings on the analysis of translated written materials produced as part of AIDS-prevention programs for the Hispanic population are addressed. The study will lead us to some conclusions about the importance of incorporating cross-cultural research in translation.