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It is commonly perceived that the better the translation, the less you tend to notice the translator. Now this may sound paradoxical, but consider what happens when you read an excellent translation. You may actually forget that it is in essence a translation, because the document feels natural, the terminology is consistent, the meaning is clear and nothing interrupts your understanding.

What you don’t see are the decisions behind that apparent simplicity, decisions that have been carefully and meticulously researched and put into effect by the translator: Which term is appropriate? Does this expression carry a specialized meaning? Is there an established equivalent? Has the same concept been translated consistently elsewhere? Is the source text ambiguous? Should I preserve the original structure or adapt it?

These decisions leave very little visible evidence in the finished document, and that is precisely the point. Professional translation is often successful when the translator becomes invisible and the document simply works.

So when a translated document is clear of visible difficulty, this does not mean the work was easy - sometimes it means the work was done well.