Relatedly, I tend to think of translations somewhat similar to a lossy system like those used in (say) image compression.

ie a compressed jpg of an image can retain quite a lot of the detail of the original, but it can introduce its own artifacts and lose some of the details

For things where the overall shape and picture is all that's required, that's fine. For things where the fine details matter, it's less fine.

Translations seem to be similar in that regard.