吃力不讨好chīlìbùtǎohǎo
Meanings
1. arduous and thankless task (idiom); strenuous and unrewarding
Characters used
Examples1
In reality, translation is akin to working for peanuts, since the corresponding meaning of something in one language is often hidden in some deep and impenetrable recesses of the other. As a result, the translator is forced to search all over... Never mind that the picky reader is very difficult to fool.