Translators play an important role in delivering the meaning written in the source language to the target language. This should be done without changing the intended purpose of the source text. It is generally accepted that translation students often produce an inadequate translation in the process of translation training at university. Students tend to translate word for word or often mistranslate a source text meaning into the target text. This study aims to investigate the factors that influence the quality of translation, particularly in translating academic essay. The data of this study were obtained by the qualitative method by interviewing beginning translator students. Four questions were designed and given to students in order to find out the point of view of the participants in terms of the difficulties they encounter when translating academic essay. The finding revealed that lack of translation knowledge is among the factors contributing to the quality of their translation.