This empirically-based analysis uses examples from Danish to tackle fundamental issues in the relation of linguistic theory to translational practice. The author focuses on deixis and discourse particles, on the basis of which she demonstrates that language as described abstractly does not always conform with language as actually used by translators, who have to take into account such issues as acceptability, fluency, adequacy, and functional equivalence. Malmkjær concludes with the necessary interdependency between linguistics and Translation Studies.