The purpose of this article is to stimulate discussion on the problematic issue of how Latin America is represented to English-speaking university students in the United States. The author focuses on four areas: the availability of works by Latin American authors translated into English, the questionable paradigm of the "smooth" translation, how academics tend to teach Latin America to English-speaking students (especially in interdisciplinary programs) and, finally, the ways "first world" students often read "third world" literature in translation.