Translation is a skill. It is gained through hard work alone. It is incorrect to state that anyone who is bilingual has the makings of a good translator. One has to be highly-literate – as opposed to merely fluent in both spoken languages – in the language into which a text is to be translated (the ‘target language’ (TL)). A translator is presenting the work of the client in another language and not, merely, changing one set of words for another.
When dealing with specialist topics, such as aeronautical engineering or law, the translator should have experience or formal education in those fields. Such fields employ specialist terms (jargon), their own nuances and a specialist would pick up on deficiencies in those aspects. Such nuances are still, largely, beyond the capability of machine translation and a human input is required afterwards. The finished translation would lose effect (be that to motivate the reader, to inform the reader etc). Such a loss in effect is known commonly as ‘translation loss’.
In sum, the client should exercise discretion in their choice of translator. Examine the professional history of the translator proposed and look for recent experience or formal education in the field in question. Take references on the translator and / or agency in question.
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