The contribution discusses the problem of defining uniform criteria for translation quality and the benefits of perception analysis for the evaluation of translation quality. After giving an overview of the history of quality measurement and of the controversies regarding the existence of translation universals and the relevance of perception studies, we will present the Leipzig Perception Project. We conclude the article with an illustration of the research project with different perception analysis of idiolects and sociolects and speech defects in feigned orality that show the need for contrastive perception analysis.