Personal differences mean stylistic differences

It is important to stress that, while "inductive" experience of the people who have a direct impact on a translator's work is always the most useful in that work, it is not always possible to predict who those people will be in advance. Representatives of new agencies and clients call out of the blue; the people an interpreter is asked to interpret for are always changing; not all technical writers are the same, nor are medical writers, legal writers, etc. Personal differences mean stylistic differences;the better able a translator or interpreter is to recognize and understand an unexpected personality type, the better able s/he will also be to render an idiosyncratic style effectively into the target language.

And this means that it is never enough for translators to get to know certain people, or certain types of people. You never know what personalities or personality types will prove useful in a translation or interpretation job — so you need to be open to everyone,interested in everyone, ready to register or record any personal idiosyncrasy you notice in any person who comes along.