: Is translation work likely to help me develop my own writing abilities? I've been offered work translating some creative works into English. Is this kind of work likely to push my creative boundaries,

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Late answer, but to anyone still reading this, a note from an occasional translator: Yes, it will 100% push your creative boundaries! The task of searching for the right way to say something, the realization that some things have to be reworded because there's no true equivalent, and the interesting work of entering someone else's head (and voice) to try to help them say what they wanted to say all yield lessons that are very applicable to your own writing.

Whether publishers will be able to see that connection I don't know. :)

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I don't know about creative, but I imagine it will help strengthen your facility with the language. You will be working to re-create a thought, an image, a sound from a foreign language into English, keeping faithful to the original somehow while making it work in the new language. Your vocabulary and diction will certainly get a workout.

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