This paper is meant to be polemical: it explores the apparent lure of the translation class by setting it against the apparent turn-offs of the communicative language class. To do this effectively, it deliberately caricatures both types of class. The reader is invited to take the caricatures with a pinch of salt, especially as they are based on intuitive observation than research findings. It is hoped, nonetheless, that by polemicizing, the paper throws some light on the intriguing phenomenon of the unfailing popularity of the optional translation course, at least as it has been observed in the author’s institution.