The article has two main aims: to illustrate the productive potential of the norms concept as an analytical tool in studying translations, and to explore the implications of the concept for the way we speak about translation. Part one takes up a historical case (Adrianus de Buck translating Boethius in 1653) and uses the concept of norms to inquire into the translator's choices. Part two begins by positing a connection between norms and values. If translation is norm-governed it cannot be value-free. Three points are discussed following from this. First, its lack of transparency is what makes translation significant as a cultural and historical phenomenon. Second, the notion of equivalence can only be an ideological construct. Finally, if our speaking about translation is itself a form of translating, then the implication must be that our translations of translation cannot be value-free either.