Where will the local factor be encountered in pragmatic translation? What is at stake there and which theories do those phenomena relate to? This question is first considered using examples from technical, business or journalistic texts. It leads, however, to a paradox, one that artificially agrees on the importance of translating the thrust of the text, not just what it says, and thus unites authors that disagree on nearly everything else and whose sole common points are a certain reluctance toward linguistic approaches and the use of the Bible as a touchstone for their reflections. Trying to overcome this paradox to produce research that is useful and operative in pragmatic translation leads to two questions. First, does the problem lie in the choice of reference texts? Second, is it possible and worthwhile to emancipate pragmatic translation studies from other theories that are more inclusive or specifically grounded in literary texts? This approach ultimately reveals a feature we consider decisive in pragmatic translation: the core of the translating activity emerges in those rare places where identity between source and target texts is absent, albeit imperceptibly.