The ability to transfer style, tone and cultural elements accurately from one language to another. If you attend a university to gain an appropriate language qualification, your course will teach you many important translation skills.Advanced language knowledge. ... Excellent writing skills. ... A good translator is someone who has a comprehensive knowledge of both source and target languages. Students should read different genres in both source and target languages including modern literature, contemporary prose, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, announcements, instructions, etc. In-depth cultural knowledge. ... Sound research skills. ... Best practice translation and review processes. ... Sound translation judgement. ... Computing and CAT skills.