Translation Quality Management

Traditionally, in order to verify the quality of a translation, a revision by a second – mostly senior – translator is carried out. Another possibility is to have the more experienced translator make the initial translation and a second person, who has yet to master the craft, proof the text to detect and eliminate inaccuracies and imperfections like incorrectly formatted numbers, punctuation errors, omissions and similar problems. It was precisely this last scenario that Yamagata Europe was determined to automate. The notion that everything that is measurable is also traceable could be moulded into a software application that would eliminate most of the repetitive and predictable (formal) mistakes right after initial translation. This resulted in the development of QA Distiller™.

Quality approach, also when subcontracting

Formal mistakes are usually indicative of other severe quality issues in a translation and their automated detection allows us to evaluate our suppliers more objectively, and much faster. Vendor evaluation and selection is after all one of the most critical activities in a business model that depends to a large extent on outsourcing. Discussions about style preferences or the choice between equally correct terms have often led to never-ending discussions, whereas formal mistakes such as inconsistent translations, untranslated text and incorrectly formatted numbers are objectively incorrect in technical manuals. Total quality assurance obviously requires an integrated approach, but every single step toward a better translation is progress.

Get what you expect

Nevertheless, perception of the overall quality of a translation project is still a relative subject, as it is defined by the expectations of the client. Making these expectations explicit and communicating them downstream will avoid unnecessary discussions and misunderstandings.
A well-defined division of tasks and an open communication with the subcontracted Language Service Providers are equally vital. The translator runs a spelling and grammar check on his translation before delivering, while the translation company commits itself to verifying the quality of a translation memory before forcing the freelancers to give discounts on recuperated segments that may still require complete revision and editing.

Kaizen in translation

These approaches are closely related to the insights provided by Japanese quality thinking, Kaizen: everyone involved in a translation project monitors the quality at every stage of the process. Problems and mistakes are detected early, so they can be fixed before they infiltrate the translation memory, preventing such dreaded scenarios as the realisation that a terminology list has been ignored when the final layout is almost complete. The client has the assurance that his translation partner takes quality seriously and he spends less time proofreading because the “stupid” mistakes have already been detected automatically and eliminated. The DTP department will have fewer corrections to implement and none will require corrections to the translation memory. In the end, the translation company has gained control over the outsourced translations, even if the project manager does not master the languages involved. It is evident that all parties benefit from this strategy, but above all, the end customer receives a decent translation without having to pay extra.