This paper takes as its point of departure a phenomenological historiography of suffering with reference to Welsh as a non-state language. It argues that a phenomenologically informed historical methodology can help to support the preservation of worldwide socio-cultural diversity through its emphasis on multiple and multiplying structures of experience, as manifested in ontological, epistemological and ethical forms. The paper demonstrates how the historicity of translation in the Welsh context is directly mediated through asymmetrical phenomenologies of power. In drawing attention to the notions of asymmetrical phenomenologies of power, interpellation and suffering, the paper demonstrates the transformative role that translation can play in language survival, in acts of naming and in literary-poetic discourse. It suggests that the examination of translation histories involving a non-state language such as Welsh can provide a useful backdrop to the growing historiography on the epistemic violence of hegemonic frames of knowledge. Rather than explore how asymmetrical phenomenologies of power have played out in Welsh translation history through a strictly chronological approach, the paper examines this issue empirically, through specific instantiations of hegemonic practices and forms of resistance. Finally, it argues that a Welsh translation history should refrain from an apolitical attitude.