Precision and poetic licence
Let the cobbler stick to his last and the accountant to his figures. And keep technicians away from word-processors! Translations should be done by translators. It may seem like a simple thing to translate a text from Swedish to English, all you have to do is to take the Swedish word, find the English equivalent, and write it down. If you get stuck, consult a dictionary.
Not a few of my customers did this before giving up in a flurry 
of befuddlement. The conflict between literal translation and proper language became too apparent and too daunting.
A good translation is the result firstly of a profound knowledge of the original language and secondly of a very good feel for the target language. The first is essential in order to recognise idioms as well as interpreting turns of phrase that carry different meaning in different circumstances, and the second is necessary to convey meaning rather than words.
Mistakes are easily made, like these pictures that haunted Christian iconography in the early middle ages as a result of a mistranslation. The "rays of light" that were supposed to radiate from Moses' forehead were mistranslated from the Greek manuscript, into "horns". And since critical bible study was but a fledgling science in those days, artists obediently depicted Moses with those somewhat puzzling horns.
Jollities of this kind are comparatively rare, however. Peculiar or outright incomprehensible translations are, unfortunately, far more common.
This is often the result of an insufficient feel for the target language on the part of the translator. He or she simply lacks the necessary distance to the original and is unable to read the translated result as an independent text, which is the main criterion for a successful translation. It should be true to the original and yet a complete text in its own right.
A satisfied customer