Gérald Leblanc’s novel, Moncton mantra (1997), is about the birth of a writer, but it also about how difficult it is to write in a minority context. As in many literary texts written by linguistic minorities, it is full of “translation effects” (Simon, 1994). In turn, the English version doubles these effects. Like the original, Jo-Anne Elder’s translation (Moncton Mantra, 2001) tries to find the right language to tell Leblanc’s story. Whereas Leblanc’s text oscillates between assimilation and differentiation, Elder’s translation navigates between assimilation and ethnography. This article explores the precarious linguistic balance achieved by both Leblanc and his translator. On the one hand, the challenge of conveying the experience related in the novel is intensified in the translation. On the other hand, the affinity between Leblanc’s writing strategies and Elder’s translation strategies makes her work resonant and complicit with Leblanc’s.