There's an interesting
article by Umberto Eco (in translation
) where he discusses translation from an author's perspective.
He makes a lot of interesting points, including this section about the beneficial aspect of working with a translator:
"As an author, I have learned a great deal from sharing the work of my translators. I am talking about my "academic" works as well as my novels. In the case of philosophical and linguistic works, when the translator cannot understand (and clearly translate) a certain page, it means that my thinking was murky. Many times, after having faced the job of translation, I have revised the second Italian edition of my book; not only from the point of view of its style but also from the point of view of ideas."