Translators have an extremely important responsibility in communicating ideas to society. Much of what we read, from Aesop and the Bible to Voltaire and Weil is (re-)created by an invisible and little respected writer, the translator. This paper explores two fundamental areas: the possible refractions and perlocutionary effects that can be engendered by a translator; and secondly, what possibilities a translator has given the traditional subservience to a habitus which values translator invisibility and fidelity to the source text. A proposal is made for the translator to take more responsibility for the potential perlocutionary effects through taking a third, disassociated perceptual cognitive position. From this position the various forces acting on the translator and the translation can be controlled through mediation focussed on the benefit to the reader.