Probabilistic prognostication is dealt with as a cognitive process aimed by the translator at decoding the bilingual author’s original communicative intent, and by the bilingual author, at anticipating and preventing potential translation flaws. Prior to the launching of the translation process, both participants pass through a situational, i.e. extralinguistic prognostication stage, where the two participants independently model the subsequent translation situation, and  an optional linguistic stage, where the bilingual author anticipates potential translation problems, and the translator, potential stylistic features of the source text. During the translation process the bilingual author monitors its course and gives a critical evaluation of translation options proposed by the translator. From the standpoint of decoding the author’s intent , this paper suggests, for the first time ever,  distinguishing congruent, partially congruent and noncongruent prognostication. The latter, however, is not to be regarded as resulting in a translation error, if only because it is capable of providing translation gains rather than losses.