No translator can avoid a certain degree of personal involvement in his work. In his interpretation of the source-language message, his selection of corresponding words and grammatical forms, and his choice of stylistic equivalents, he will inevitably be influenced by his overall empathy with author and message, or his lack of it. It is quite understandable that the behavioral and intraorganismic meanings employed by the author will affect and be affected by the translator's corresponding values-which in no instance will be exactly the same as the author's. Intellectual honesty requires the translator to be as free as possible from personal intrusion in the communication process. The translator should never tack on his own impression or distort the message to fit his own intellectual and emotional outlook. At the same time, the human translator is not a machine, and he inevitably leaves the stamp of his own personality on any translation he makes. This being the case, he must exert every effort to reduce to a minimum any intrusion of himself which is not in harmony with the intent of the original author and message.

When a translator intrudes in the transmission process, his behavior may be accounted for in various ways. At times a translator has purposely and consciously attempted to change a message in order to make it conform to his own political, social, or religious predilections. For this type of willful distortion there is no real cure. But most instances of undue alteration of an original are not the result of any conscious desire to modify or to distort the message, but rather of unconscious personality traits which influence a person's work in subtle and seemingly innocent ways. These are particularly evident when a translator feels inclined to improve on the original, correct apparent errors, or defend a personal preference by slanting his choice of words.

The dangers of subjectivity in translating are directly proportionate to the potential emotional involvement of the translator in the message. For scientific prose such involvement is usually at a minimum, but in religious texts, it may be rather great, since religion is concerned with the deepest and most universal value systems. In some instances it is the translator's own sense of insecurity which makes it difficult for him to let the document speak for itself, and in other instances a lack of humility may prompt him to translate without consulting the opinions of those who have studied such texts more fully than himself.

At times the translator may be misled by his own paternalistic attitude into thinking that the potential receptors of his translation are so limited in understanding or experience that they must have his "built-in" explanations. Or he may believe that their language is so deficient that only by certain "improvements" (often arbitrary and artificial) can be communicate the message.

Perhaps the translator's greatest danger in religious translating is simply his not recognizing that sincerity alone may not be enough, for he must not only be competent in the languages involved, well acquainted with the subject matter, adept in the use of words, but also fully aware of himself-his weaknesses, strengths, and potentialities. For the translator "Know thyself!" has unusually applicable significance.

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