The article deals with social, cultural and political factors that influence translation solutions in the German-Ukrainian context. Based on an analysis of the biographical background of two Ukrainian translators, Petro Taraščuk and Jurij Prochasʹko, their statements to the public, interviews and translation strategies, the characteristics of their linguistic identity were examined from the point of view of anti-/postimperial vs colonial endeavors. Translations of Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Amerika / The Man Who Disappeared into Ukrainian were studied to identify influencing drivers behind translation strategies and approaches. Taraščuk’s translation strategy is described as nativism and the strategy of Prochasʹko as westernization.