Six approaches to measuring translation quality
By Andres Heuberger
Many organizations grapple with the question of how to measure translation quality. The problem lies in the fact that translation quality is often subjective -- miscommunications and different stylistic preferences often mark discussions concerning "good" or "bad" quality. Worse still, many organizations and a surprising number of localization and translation vendors have no quality system in place at all.
At the center of this issue lies the fact there is no single accepted definition for translation quality. As with beauty, quality lies in the eye of the beholder.
Proven Approaches
Several groups have developed methodologies to measure translation quality. Some of these quality systems are very quantitative. Some of these approaches extended the definition of quality to include harder-to-measure concepts such as the style, consistency, and accuracy of translated texts.
The different systems appeal to different kinds of users and organizations. There isn't a single right answer. The key is to find a solution that is right for you.
The following list provides a summary overview of six real-world approaches to defining and measuring translation quality:
1. Society of Automotive Engineers J2450
- geared toward needs of automotive manufacturers
- incorporates machine-translation issues
- assigns normalized quality score
- more info at http://www.sae.org
2. Localisation Industry Standard Association QA Model
- specific to software localization
- quality assurance (i.e., sampling) vs. quality control (i.e., 100% review)
- error classes are jointly defined by client and vendor
- more info at http://www.lisa.org
3. ForeignExchange Translations' Multilingual Compliance Process
- six-step linguist-testing procedure
- statistical and qualitative standards of measurement
- applies to web, localization, documentation
- more info at http://www.fxtrans.com/mcm.html
4. American Translators Association accreditation program
- specific to translation
- standardized evaluation
- more info at http://www.atanet.org/bin/view.pl/285.html
5. Deutsches Institut für Normung DIN 2345
- outlines procedure, minimum qualifications
- participation by all parties of translation assignment, i.e., client, translation company, and freelance translators
- DIN's German home page is at http://www.din.de and an English overview can be found at http://158.169.50.95:10080/mlis/en/document/cec-din-minutes.html#DIN
6. Six sigma quality initiative
- quality metric (i.e., 3.4 defects per million opportunities)
- program for continuous improvement, employee empowerment, enhanced customer focus
- the founder of six sigma has a consulting firm at http://www.6-sigma.com/
Be A Smart Client
Regardless of the system you adopt, clearly state your quality requirements to your vendor and stay involved at multiple levels of the vendor's management structure.
It pays to develop a translation strategy that is customized to your needs and that is clearly communicated within the client and vendor organizations. This will allow you to answer the question "How should I measure translation quality?" -- and it will improve the effectiveness of your overall translation process.
Andres Heuberger is president of medical translation firm ForeignExchange Translations. Andres is actively involved in professional organizations related to regulatory affairs and medical translation. He regularly writes for leading industry publications, including MultiLingual Computing & Technology, Medical Design Online, and Software Business. For more information, please send an email to andresh@fxtrans.com or visit http://www.medical-translation.com.