I can offer some insight on this, as I've dealt with translations of papers before (Chinese to English). There have been countless times where I've been asked t

I can offer some insight on this, as I've dealt with translations of papers before (Chinese to English). There have been countless times where I've been asked to check the translation of a paper and ended up retranslating it completely. I was often curious as to why the original translation was bad - it was typically either of the following two reasons: 1. The so-called translator was just an overworked research assistant who knows a bit of English. 2. The translation was outsourced to a dodgy company that spends more on marketing than on their translators, usually hiring college grads who did English-related majors.