Why Being Bilingual is Not Enough?

Some are convinced that translation is inherently a bilingual activity because it involves communication in two languages. Can anyone with a high-level of bilingual skills provide a high-end translation? Is bilingualism by itself enough to be a good translator?

Working in the translation industry for nearly a decade, I discovered that being bilingual does not guarantee a successful outcome. Typically, a translator cannot just pick up any text and produce a high-end translation. Translators work in a specific context and use specific vocabularies whose meanings and usage change within the subject areas. They must be experts of the subject in their target language.

Bilingualism is more than an ability to communicate in two languages. It also must be combined with a high-level reading skill in a source language and a high-level writing skill in a target language. It is said that for the translator, the most important skill is to be able to write well in the target language and with far better fluency than that of a native speaker. If the translator cannot express the message well in the target language, it will not matter how much expertise in a subject area or high-level foreign language reading skill a translator has.