The task of a translator is not as simple as one might assume. Nowadays if one wish to understand the meaning of a particular text in a foreign language, say from a website, he or she can simply use one of the freely available translation tools on the web such as Google Translate to instantaneously perform the translation of the foreign language into a language that he or she understands. Nonetheless, the result of using such a mechanical tool may be far less than satisfactory than one would have wanted.

The underlying reason behind this is due to the fact that the process of translation is complicated and time-consuming, and hence the job of the translator is a difficult one. The task of translation is not simply about translating individual words or sentences just as Google does, but rather entire texts have to be translated. It is not enough to produce grammatically correct sentences, but natural sentences that faithfully reflect the meaning of the source text in the way the author originally intended. Furthermore, the translator should do his best to retain the special characteristics of the original source text, while at the same time the translated text has to accommodate readers with a different culture and background. Read more