This study addresses the question of whether and to what extent translators’ decision-making processes are influenced by what translators believe to be the expectations of other agents, namely revisers and readers. It is still unclear what revisers’ and readers’ translational preferences are and what expectations they have about translators and the translated text. There is also a lack of understanding about how translators translate, how translators think they should translate, and what translators believe to be the expectations of other translators, revisers, and readers. In order to address these issues, this study focuses on the distinction between observed and perceived norms in the translation of biomedical texts from English to European Portuguese in contemporary Portugal. It zooms in on preferences regarding source and target orientation in translation, comparing both the practice and beliefs of sixty agents with different roles and experience: novice translators, experienced translators, revisers, and health professionals.