13. An inquisitive translator is good news

No one reads your material more carefully than your translator. Along the way, he or she is likely to identify sections that need clarification -- unless the original is exceptionally well-prepared. This is good news for you, since it will allow you to improve your original.

This is why it is important to remain involved in your project throughout, accessible to your translation provider.

A European video-games specialist notes that management did not really understand their own stock-options policy until an English translation was commissioned: the translator asked many questions and delivered a version far clearer than the original.

"We try to wait for our texts to come back from the translators before going to press with the original French," says the chief economist of a major bank in Paris. "The reason is simple: our translators track our subjects closely. Their critical eye helps us identify weak spots in the original."

Good translators strip down your sentences entirely before creating new ones in the target language. And they ask questions along the way.