English to Chinese Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings Common Usage

A translator reads a lot in the target language.

A wordsmith and longtime friend who worked as a radio presenter told me long ago that "we talk as we listen, but we write as we read." Truer words were never spoken. Be highly selective in your readings. Choose good writing and pay attention to structures and vocabulary and commit them to memory so you'll have them handy for when the need arises. If your reading diet consists of only a small sample of texts, you run the risk of having your anemic translations mimic those kinds of texts. If, even worse, you read nothing at all, your translations might ape the originals and read as translations, not as texts crafted in the target language.

Looking for elegant Chinese expression for the term, not machine-like translation.

TIA!