By Vaishnavi Ojha
IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY STANDARD IN IMPROVING QUALITY OF WORK OF TRANSLATORS
With the introduction of globalisation in this world, many changes have appeared in the picture. Developments in ICT, transport and communications have accelerated the pace of globalisation over the past 30 years. The internet has enabled fast and 24/7 global communication and the use of containerisation has enabled vast quantities of goods and commodities to be shipped across the world. More recently, the rise of social media means that national boundaries have, in many ways become irrelevant as producers use new forms of communication and marketing, including micro-marketing, to target international consumers. And with this, translation of documents, deals, passports, legal documents come into place. Different languages give different ways to look at the world, but translation allows us to explore and interact with these different views of the world. Translation refers to carrying the meaning of a text from one language to another. This process involves the interpretation of the meaning of the text and producing the same meaning in another language. Translation as an activity is actually as old as written language or text itself. Because of the existence of many languages, translation becomes very hard in this matter because of many cultural boundaries and differences. For instance, one translator may use any other word for the same word and another may use any other. Here both, the consumer (client) and producer (translator) need a middle way to achieve satisfaction in work which one receives and which one does. Quality Standards are the requirements or the guidelines to meet the expectation of the clients. And if one fails to do so especially translator, it can lead to damage to the reputation, name and image of the translator's company. It was noticed that in the absence of consumer-oriented guidelines for translation services, on many occasions there had been a mismatch of assumptions and goals between the people requesting a translation and the people supplying the translation and finally affecting the project quality. This situation created a need to create a standard of quality and educate both consumers and producers in this sector for better services.
With the introduction of the different standards set up by different countries, such as DIN 2345 or CAN CGSB 131.10, it became very hard for two countries to come to an equal or decided agreement on which quality standard should be followed. Here comes the latest quality standard named ISO 17100:2015 for a better way of translation. The basic aim has been to prepare a reference guide that shall help the end-user to get a reasonable assurance of quality as per the standards and at the same time help the translators attain this goal and develop professionalism in offering services. Language has norms and is highly prescribed. Despite that, it has some variations such as orthography or lexicon. It is beneficial for them to adopt a standard quality when working on a project. Quality standards help translation service providers as they set out a framework for excellence. They can improve their own quality standard by checking errors and recording them. By identifying the errors, they can save time in the future by minimising the tendency to make errors in certain areas. Another way to improve their quality standard is to document their working progress. By recording the progress, they can improve themselves and identify which areas that they commit errors and fix them. Documentation will allow them to fill the gaps and identify their weaknesses and strengths. They will be efficient in completing any tasks given and maintain the consistency of the improved and efficient work they have been doing. Ultimately minimising the bad quality of work in the long run. Hence, it’s a win-win situation for both, client and translator. They both will be the receiver of the benefits of using quality standards.
The quality standard certification indicates the level of service on offer and helps translation customers understand price differentials between different providers. In addition, it is important to create a reference point for producing proper and efficient work from both sides. Translators can provide a glossary before starting with the translation work and get it checked by the client. In this way, both can do the work properly and minimises chances of argument or conflict in future. Fortunately, legal measures could be taken when the client suddenly does not want to pay if both parties have agreed to follow a specific guideline. For example, if certain terminologies have been agreed upon, the client cannot decide to suddenly back out from the project when it is already agreed that the terminologies are correct. It is better to agree and prepare legal paperwork beforehand.
And the other thing is, that translators should not charge more for using the quality standards because this should become the aim of all the service providers to give the best work they can from their end.
In a nutshell, practising quality standards are necessary for both, clients and translators and for developing this service fairly soon. Because anyway it is beneficial for both the people. One by improving the efficiency of their work and the other by receiving a good quality of work.
