What everybody should know about translation

Translation, whether literary or technical, is a creative art, not a mechanical process, and machines have failed to give useful translations of serious texts for this reason. The conventional distinctions between “literary” and “technical” transition are misleading and perhaps false. Literal or word-for-word translations are not translations at all and their use should be discouraged. Translation requires a full command of both languages and some understanding of the subject. Quality is difficult for a layman to judge, but idiomatic English (or whatever the target language is) is one good sign, and there are others.