diff --git a/doc/extdev/appapi.rst b/doc/extdev/appapi.rst
index 48f5d96e3..4083d69f7 100644
--- a/doc/extdev/appapi.rst
+++ b/doc/extdev/appapi.rst
@@ -82,16 +82,25 @@ package.
 
    Register an event called *name*.  This is needed to be able to emit it.
 
+.. method:: Sphinx.add_translator(name, translator_class)
+               
+   Register a Docutils translator class.  This is used to register a
+   custom output translator.  This allows extensions to define custom
+   nodes for the translator (see :meth:`add_node`).  If the name
+   clashes with an existing translator an
+   :exc:`sphinx.errors.ExtensionError` will be raised.
+
 .. method:: Sphinx.add_node(node, **kwds)
 
    Register a Docutils node class.  This is necessary for Docutils internals.
    It may also be used in the future to validate nodes in the parsed documents.
 
    Node visitor functions for the Sphinx HTML, LaTeX, text and manpage writers
-   can be given as keyword arguments: the keyword must be one or more of
-   ``'html'``, ``'latex'``, ``'text'``, ``'man'``, ``'texinfo'``, the value a
-   2-tuple of ``(visit, depart)`` methods.  ``depart`` can be ``None`` if the
-   ``visit`` function raises :exc:`docutils.nodes.SkipNode`.  Example:
+   can be given as keyword arguments: the keyword should be one or more of
+   ``'html'``, ``'latex'``, ``'text'``, ``'man'``, ``'texinfo'`` or any other
+   supported translators, the value a 2-tuple of ``(visit, depart)`` methods.
+   ``depart`` can be ``None`` if the ``visit`` function raises
+   :exc:`docutils.nodes.SkipNode`.  Example:
 
    .. code-block:: python
 
diff --git a/sphinx/application.py b/sphinx/application.py
index 89d1d7869..8f866599b 100644
--- a/sphinx/application.py
+++ b/sphinx/application.py
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ from sphinx.util import pycompat  # imported for side-effects
 from sphinx.util.tags import Tags
 from sphinx.util.osutil import ENOENT
 from sphinx.util.console import bold, lightgray, darkgray
+from sphinx.writers.html import HTMLTranslator
+from sphinx.writers.latex import LaTeXTranslator
+from sphinx.writers.text import TextTranslator
+from sphinx.writers.manpage import ManualPageTranslator
+from sphinx.writers.texinfo import TexinfoTranslator
 
 if hasattr(sys, 'intern'):
     intern = sys.intern
@@ -57,6 +62,15 @@ events = {
     'build-finished': 'exception',
 }
 
+TRANSLATORS = {
+    'html': HTMLTranslator,
+    'latex': LaTeXTranslator,
+    'text:': TextTranslator,
+    'man': ManualPageTranslator,
+    'texinfo': TexinfoTranslator
+}
+
+
 CONFIG_FILENAME = 'conf.py'
 ENV_PICKLE_FILENAME = 'environment.pickle'
 
@@ -440,6 +454,12 @@ class Sphinx(object):
             raise ExtensionError('Event %r already present' % name)
         self._events[name] = ''
 
+    def add_translator(self, name, translator_class):
+        if name in TRANSLATORS:
+            raise ExtensionError('A Translator by the name '
+                                 '%s is already registered.' % name)
+        TRANSLATORS[name] = translator_class
+
     def add_node(self, node, **kwds):
         self.debug('[app] adding node: %r', (node, kwds))
         nodes._add_node_class_names([node.__name__])
@@ -449,20 +469,9 @@ class Sphinx(object):
             except ValueError:
                 raise ExtensionError('Value for key %r must be a '
                                      '(visit, depart) function tuple' % key)
-            if key == 'html':
-                from sphinx.writers.html import HTMLTranslator as translator
-            elif key == 'latex':
-                from sphinx.writers.latex import LaTeXTranslator as translator
-            elif key == 'text':
-                from sphinx.writers.text import TextTranslator as translator
-            elif key == 'man':
-                from sphinx.writers.manpage import ManualPageTranslator \
-                    as translator
-            elif key == 'texinfo':
-                from sphinx.writers.texinfo import TexinfoTranslator \
-                    as translator
-            else:
-                # ignore invalid keys for compatibility
+            translator = TRANSLATORS.get(key)
+            # ignore invalid keys for compatibility
+            if not translator:
                 continue
             setattr(translator, 'visit_'+node.__name__, visit)
             if depart: