Translation is the process of translating words or text from one language into another. It is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text.

The purpose of translation is to convey the original tone and intent of a message, taking into account cultural and regional differences between source and target languages. The text that is to be translated is called the source text, and the language it is to be translated into is called the target language; the final product is sometimes called the target text.

Translation needs to take into consideration the constraints that include context, the grammar of the two languages, their writing styles, and their idioms. A common misconception is that there exists a simple word-for-word correspondence between any two languages, and that translation is a straightforward mechanical process. But in reality, a word-for-word translation does not take into account context, grammar, conventions, and idioms, and rather if you do the word-for-word translation then it does not convey the correct meaning and becomes funny at times too. The accuracy and precision of words are very much an important part of translation.