Finding the 'Perfect' Word in Translation

What does it mean to find the perfect word in translation? What does the search look like, and more importantly, how does it feel? Admittedly, there is no truly 'perfect' translation of any word in absolute terms. All words map imperfectly onto even their closest synonyms; that's why they exist as distinct words, after all. There is often, however, that one word that feels just right; the one that maps onto your original word in all the ways that matter, carries a similar aura, moves around in the target language the way the original did in the source - and boy, does it feel good to find that match!

I emphasize feeling here because I believe that at the level of advanced nuance - when we're dealing with creative language that's more than just terminology - the process of finding the right word is really as much of a feeling as it is a linguistic exercise. My dear Danish husband asked me the other day what the difference was between 'honestly' and 'frankly'. While the two words are in many ways interchangeable, there's a distinct aura to each one that I try to identify by 'trying on' one after the other through the lens of a lifetime of native speaker experience. And while a translation I find with this method may not be 'perfect' in terms of absolute conformity with the source word, it often clicks right into the feeling of the target text. That, for me, is pretty satisfying, and it generally leads to a happy client, too.

What do you think? Honestly, just tell me frankly!