In order to answer the question as to what the importance of the translator is, the following model may prove helpful. During the Renaissance, distinctions were made between translatio, imitatio, and emulatio to indicate the way in which artists reverted to classic antiquities. How does Apropos draw the analogy between the translator and this model?

Translation is the converting of text from one language to another as incisively as possible. The standpoint from which the translator works is most important: it is not the source language that determines the articulation of the text in the target language, nor is it determined by the target language; it is the translator's contribution. However, he needs to think from within the target language. This means that translating does indeed involve a creative moment, i.e., emulatio: the translator replaces the original in such a way that the translation no longer depends on the original, but is able to take on an autonomous existence within the context of the proper language.

The quality of a translation is therefore determined by the one who negotiates between the two realms in which the text oscillates. In addition to a creative moment, a "pedagogical" moment can also be discerned in the relation between the translator and the text to be translated. Only by distancing itself from its example and thereby becoming susceptible to the input from the translator can the text assume the independence needed to reach, if not supersede, the same degree of originality.