Some valuable things to keep in mind when composing your translations:

Why didn’t the writers catch these mistakes? Probably because they were looking at their intentions — what they meant to say — not the words they put on the page… They’re nearly always over-reading, alive to the writer’s intention, as if the writer were somehow immanent in the sentence, looking over the reader’s shoulder, expecting the benefit of the doubt. (read more)

Verlyn Klinkenborg, “The Trouble With Intentions,” New York Times, 24 September 2012.