Technically, it is the practice of translating a text that has already been translated into a foreign language (TL) back to the original language (SL) – preferably by an independent translator other than the original translator.

Back translation is normally deployed for the purpose of verifying the quality of the finalized product. Sometimes it does improve the readability, accuracy and validity of a translation by requiring that the quality of a translation is verified by a different translator translating back into the source language (LOTE).

Back translation is not routinely performed in that the majority of the clients might still favour traditional proofreading rather than back translation. Original version and back translated version are compared after back translation. By and large, owing to its high cost and various other reasons, back translation is not being extensively applied, but in situations which entail high risk and high return, it could be worth the financial investment.

The notion that any bilingual individual can be a qualified translator or a proof reader is a falsified one in that the professional competence of a translator entails much more than mere bilingualism.

The fundamental requirements of a professional translator comprehend bilingualism, biculturalism, proficiency in practical translation skills and preferably some basic translation theories as well as massive experience in writing. It takes years of professional training and practice to achieve all these requirements. As a result, customers or normal bilingual individuals are probably not in a position to offer unbiased, professional and accurate opinion on the work of a professional certified translator.

Some clients do have the tendency to ask their bilingual staff to do the proofreading on the work of a professional translator and this issue needs to be put on the table and addressed immediately. Having said that, it is the responsibilities of the translator to explain in detail why the translation needs to be done in the way it was done so that the client and the translator can reach an agreement on the final product.

The fundamental difference between Mandarin used in mainland China and Mandarin used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao lies in some of the particular terms and vocabularies, especially in the field of politics, literature and religion.

Sometimes daily conversational expressions might differ as well whereas the essential syntax remains quite similar. In terms of spoken discourse, one of the most prominent features of Mandarin Chinese, the four tones system, is basically identical between the two dialects of Mandarin.

Sometimes due to the disparity in cultural backgrounds and the lack of lexical equivalents in the target language, the translators are required to provide a little bit more information regarding the socio-cultural background so that the target audience might have a better understanding of the message the author tries to convey.

The situation is especially so in translating culture specific idioms that involve metaphors. But the situation might differ when the translator has a profound knowledge of both the source culture and the target culture along with a proficiency in writing in the target language, therefore, able to achieve a translation of more or less the same length of the source text.

The point is that the target texts do not have to be lengthier than the source texts.