My oldest son translated my first book. An acquaintance of mine in America, who'd first read the book in Russian, took a look at the English version too. She liked the translation — it was accurate. But she told me that books written in Russian, she prefers to read in Russian. Because English just can't express the same feeling, the same soul.

I knew the book was full of Russian proverbs, idioms, and stock phrases from films that not every Russian-speaking reader would even catch — someone from a different generation, say. And still, I wanted to get across exactly the meaning I'd put into it as the author.

Before the second book was translated, my husband put together an entire table of these expressions with possible English equivalents, along with explanations in Russian. I sat with it for two days straight, using AI to study the options and choose the ones that felt right to me.

That's when it hit me: a good translator isn't someone who simply knows two languages. It's someone who knows how to think about how a text works, and who's willing to make decisions.

That's what co-authorship really is. Not that the translator invents things of their own, but that they make artistic decisions. Every time there's no exact equivalent in the other language — and that happens constantly — the translator has to choose. And that choice shapes how the narrator comes across to an English-speaking reader. Softer or harsher. More ironic or more sorrowful.

If you're thinking about having your book translated, here's what I wish I'd known going in. First, you need to actually like the translator as a person — someone you're willing to talk to for hours. Because you will. Second, a good translator will ask questions — lots of them. That's not a sign of incompetence; it's a sign they're reading closely. Third, be ready for the fact that some things simply won't translate. Not because the translator failed, but because languages aren't code systems — they're different ways of seeing the world. And sometimes those worlds don't line up.

Translation isn't a service you perform on a text. It's the text's second life. And a great deal depends on who gives it that life.