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Translation & QA Process
- The customer contacts the project manager, who, prior to each project, establishes an offer and sets a firm deadline for completion. The contact will also request the material being translated plus other pertinent information: reference documents, previous translations (if satisfactory), glossaries, etc. These ensure maximum consistency and quality.
- The translation is carried out by a domain specialist with a profile that matches the type of documentation required as closely as possible. All our translators only work in their mother tongue, hold university degrees in translation or in one of our specialist subject areas, and have at least three years of experience in their specialties.
- An accuracy check is performed by a second specialist. The checker’s job is to review the document to ensure the translation is correct. This check includes reviewing the translation, conducting final spelling and grammar checks, ensuring any reference material or glossaries provided have been followed, and making certain all terminology has been used correctly and consistently.
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QA Guidelines for Translators
Note on EN-15038:2006: Our definition of QA is pretty close to that of "Review" under EN-15038:2006, which defines a Review as "examining a translation for its suitability for the agreed purpose, and respect for the conventions of the domain to which it belongs and recommending corrective measures". Our definition of proofreading, however, goes beyond this and provides a higher quality level.
The purpose of a QA is to:
Ensure that the document is essentially an accurate translation
Verify that any reference material or glossaries have been followed
Do final spelling and grammar checks
Check numbers, number formatting and dates
This means:
Only making corrections or improvements that are absolutely necessary.
This means not:
Making any personal stylistic changes to what is otherwise a perfectly good translation.
How do I perform a QA?
First and foremost the translation and source files should be compared side by side on paper not on screen. Errors that will be readily picked up on paper can be missed on screen.
It is essential that in addition to checking the accuracy of the translation, checks should also be done to ensure there are no grammar, spelling, number, number formatting, date or punctuation errors.
It goes without saying that you should ensure that everything (headers, footers, TOCs, footnotes, graphs, images) is translated.
You should carry out spot-checks to ensure that any reference material or glossaries have been followed consistently but, unless you know better, any terms not covered by the glossary can be assumed to have been properly researched by the translator.
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