The article reports on an investigation of repetition in the Swedish-to-Polish translation. It examines the use of one type of repetition – simple lexical repetition – and it highlights the relationship between repetition avoidance and the practice of adding repetitions in multiple versions of the same text provided by inexperienced translators. Furthermore, the analysis addresses a more general translation studies question whether repetition avoidance should be regarded as a universal tendency in translation, which is postulated by some translation researchers. The research shows clearly that in non-professional translation reproducing repetitions is much more common than avoiding them. Hence, the thesis about the universal character of repetition avoidance in translation cannot be confirmed. Avoiding repetitions is an individual feature. Additionally, the analysis demonstrates that also introducing additional repetitions is a marker of the translator’s individual style and pertains to special purposes. Finally, it enables us to conclude that the opposing phenomena of avoiding and adding repetition in translation are two independent phenomena, which, however, can be seen as offspring of a more general Minimax strategy underlying the great majority of translational decisions.