Analysing the Italian translation of the Rosian neologisms in Grande Sertão: veredas, a high level of occurrences of literal translations was found. This fact, plus the divergence in positions of teachers, translators and researchers about the literalness of translations, leads us to reconsider the potentialities of literal translation. The present study analyses the literal translation of neologisms, combined or not with lexical innovation, and presents two hypotheses connected both to the question of the literal translation of neologisms and to the legibility of the translated text. The study is inspired on theoreticians and researchers such as Newmark, Aubert and Mendes, and uses examples from the Rosian text.