I think it a good idea before learning from a translated sefer to take a look at the translator’s/publisher’s preface to get an idea of what they had in mind. A translation is almost inevitably a perush because Hebrew is deep while English is broad. That is, the translator must choose among multiple meanings and nuances that attach themselves to the Hebrew/Aramaic expressions. This limits the depth of learning that a translation allows; that’s in the best case. In the worst case, the translator chooses or is instructed to “adjust” the text to what the non-Hebrew-reading learner is “supposed” to understand. By saying this, I am not attacking “haredi revisionism.” The most egregious example I’ve seen is in a purported translation of a collection of Rav Kook’s drashot.
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