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‪This article discusses the relationship between linguistic translation and social translation through a study of the social actions involved in the transformation of objects into artworks in a postcolonial context. Based on an ethnographic study of a contemporary San art workshop in Botswana, it explores how translations processes condition and modify the definition and status of artworks. To this end, this article examines one particular moment – the titling of pieces – through which many operations of translation are set in motion: the transition from image to discourse on the image, from orality to script, from one language to another, and eventually from non-art to art. Through an analysis of the collaborative discussions involved in the titling of artworks, it highlights the misunderstandings, the reformulations and the shifts in meaning generated by these operations of translation. Notably it shows how a differentiated access to means of expression has a direct impact on the production of meaning and on the capacity of these pieces to become a new medium of representation for their authors. Finally, while the contribution of ethnography to the study of interlinguistic translations has often be noted, this article explores how a closer examination of linguistic translations may provide new insights into processes of social translation observed during ethnographical fieldworks.‪