Nicky: I feel very strongly that a translator must be the best of writers in their first language. (I’d take for granted their depth of knowledge of the other language.) I wince every time I read something in translation that sounds awkward, or even ungrammatical, where the original is not intentionally awkward. It must be said that editors have a responsibility here. A good editor is a translator’s best reader, and can pick up on awkward-sounding bits during the editing process, go back to the translator and query them.