Religion

"I might have flown to Paris next week if my wife had not been hired by a new company."

Here's what Google came up with, which back-translated perfectly to my original:

J'aurais peut-être pris l'avion pour Paris la semaine prochaine si ma femme n'avait pas été embauchée par une nouvelle société.

This sort of illustrates the issue you mentioned about verb forms. Now, if I saw that sentence in French, I would understand it just fine. However, I could not possibly speak it in French directly from my own thoughts. Four years of high school French is simply not adequate preparation for that.

On the other hand, I was able to write an English sentence that would translate properly and back-translate to the identical English. But, would a French speaker with four years of taking English classes have been able to speak the English sentence directly? I doubt it. English is just as complex in its grammar, but uses different methods to deal with those conditional and tense complexities. English is also a bit more efficient in expressing the same thought and uses fewer words.

The languages are quite different, but can both express the same sentence.

I would not write such a sentence, however, in a business correspondence. I would write much more simply to ensure a good translation. I would probably write:

I planned to fly to Paris next week. However, my wife was hired for a new job.

That also translated correctly in Google Translate:

Je prévoyais de voler à Paris la semaine prochaine. Cependant, ma femme a été embauchée pour un nouvel emploi.

In that case, I could say those sentences in French after thinking for a moment. They are within my active speaking abilities. So, I would be more comfortable using the English in composing a business letter. In that case, as well, I might still have used Google Translate and back-translated to make certain, as well as to avoid typing the French with its diacritical markings.