By Stuti Joshi
Translation quality could be defined as the success of the translation in accurately capturing and conveying the information and the intent of the source document. Quality standards help translation service providers as they set out a framework for excellence. Quality standards are applied to improve efficiency and maintain the consistency with the work that is being produced. It comes handy in the long run, the standard helps the client at last but it defines the standard of the provider that how efficient are they in delivering the product. Translation quality becomes mission-critical in domains such as IP, medical, accounting, and technical documentation, where poor-quality translations could cause loss.
Two main types of Translation quality standards:
- Process-oriented: These standards focus on establishing and maintaining a process of translation, review, and approval that, when followed diligently by qualified professionals, will consistently result in translations that meet customer expectations.
- Metrics-oriented: These standards focus on establishing actual quality metrics against which a translation can be measured and rated as high- or
low-quality.
Examples of P.O standards :
The EN 15038 quality standard is developed especially for translation services providers and aims to unify the terminology used in the translation field and create a framework for the interaction of customers and service providers in terms of their rights and obligations. A strong focus is on administrative, documentation, review and revision processes, as well as on the functions of different specialists who are involved in the translation process over its duration. As a minimum requirement under EN15038 certification translations must involve at least two separate people performing translation and editing.
In 2015, EN 15038 was replaced by ISO 17100:2015. One of the main aspects covered by the new standard is the reorganization of tasks into three macro-processes: pre-production, production, and post-production, and also the addition of the project manager’s profile and role as one of the key participants in the translation project workflow.
The ISO 9000 family addresses various aspects of quality management and contains some of ISO’s best-known standards. The standards provide guidance
and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements and that quality is consistently improved.
Examples of M.O standards:
The LISA Scorecard is a quality assurance model designed to promote the best translation and localization methods for the software and hardware industries. While the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) is no longer active, their standardization methods are still widely used as the benchmark for quality translations. This model grades translations based on a scoring system that measures the severity of issues as critical, major or minor and provides a point value for each offense.
The SAE J2450 metric has gained popularity in the manufacturing industry. It consists - Seven primary error categories which cover such areas as terminology, meaning, structure, spelling, punctuation, completeness, etc. Two subcategories: serious and minor. Two meta-rules to help evaluators make a decision in case of ambiguity. Numeric weights for each primary and subcategory.
The newest metric for error-typology based evaluation is the MQM-DQF harmonized metric. LISA QA and SAE J2450 have not kept up with the times and lack the flexibility that is required in a world with much for diversified types of content.DQF includes various tools for the evaluation of translation quality, the error typology being one of them.
I am concluding that without measurement, no improvement. Translation quality standards play an important role but they are no substitute for providing on-going training and feedback to translators, as well as arming translators and editors with the necessary resources and information on the subject matter, the context in which the translation will be used, etc. Quality standards only assess one partner in the two-party translation process. We can contribute to the successful translation outcome by working with our translation team to provide a clear brief, clarify any points they query, and always explain what we are trying to achieve with the finished translated and what effect it should have on its audience.
