In this Blog Series, we’re exploring the many aspects of assessing translation quality. So far, we’ve
- Discussed the importance of assessing translation quality (Part 1);
- Learned how to measure errors or defects (Part 2);
- Gained an understanding of the categories and severity levels of errors (Part 3);
- Surveyed ten critical success factors for planning quality translations (Part 4);
- Distinguished between the subjective and objective (Part 5),
- Looked beyond the words assess whether the finished product meets the intended purpose and use of the material (Part 6); and
- Explored how writing source content with translation in mind results in higher quality translations (Part 7).
Embracing Technology
Most of the above elements of translation quality assurance revolve around the role of humans in the translation process. As Alexander Pope said in the famous proverb: “to err is human.” As human beings, we sometimes need a little assistance to double check our work. In translation, this help typically involves both human assistance (a proofreader/editor to review the translation) and technology assistance. In this Part 8, we’ll explore the technology side of translation quality: automated quality checks.
Whether part of a comprehensive translation management system (like Vocalink Global’s Vu Platform) or as stand-alone software, translators and reviewers get a little help from technology to help ensure top-quality translation. Translation quality assurance (or “QA”) tools involve sophisticated software that analyzes the source document and the translated document (or “target document”) for a whole host of potential errors.
Spell Check on Steroids
Think automated QA tools a little like spell check on steroids. Instead of just checking for spelling and/or common grammar errors, automated QA tools look for things like:
- Wrong alphabet/characters: This check looks for characters in a different alphabet than the target language. Are there Arabic characters in your document translated into English? This check will find them.
- Date/Number Check: This check makes sure all numbers and dates present in the source document show up in the target document, and in more sophisticated systems, that dates are properly localized. For example, in the U.S., we’d express July 4, 2018 as 7/4/2018 (Month-Day-Year), but in many other places in the world it would be 4/17/2017 (Day-Month-Year).
- Punctuation: Double punctuation, different spacing around punctuation, different ending punctuation marks, missing punctuation and the like, a change in punctuation can result in a drastic change in meaning. These checks make sure the punctuation in the target document matches up to the source document and makes sense. For example, if the check finds one parenthesis, it will look for the other (because not ending a parenthetical is just not right.
- Forbidden terms: Good automated QA tools allow one to define a list of terms that should not appear in the target document. This can be vital to stay consistent with branding and to avoid terms with double-meaning or negative connotations.
- Terminology check: The best automated QA tools allow one to define a terminology database to ensure internal consistency, consistency across documents (we will call it a “flat head screwdriver” in every set of product instructions, not a “standard” or “slotted” screwdriver), and overall consistency with brand voice. The system then checks the source text for matches with the database and ensures the target text has been translated as defined by the database.
- Untranslated segments: This tool looks for any inadvertently untranslated text.
- Text length: This tool looks for translated text that is substantially longer or shorter than the source text.
- Consistency: This tool looks for identical words/phrases in the source text and makes sure the translations are likewise identical.
- Spell check: Of course, QA tools do include plain old spell check.
- And many more!
Bring Back the Humans!
Just like basic spell check, automated QA tools don’t just make changes. Rather, changes are highlighted and presented to the linguist, who ultimately decides whether to make an edit. In this way, a human being can analyze the suggested changes to make sure they make sense in context, and to preserve choices that, at first glance, might not seem correct.
- Have Arabic characters in your Arabic to English translation? Perhaps it was intentional to preserve the look of a logo, or is a proper name followed by phonetic English text in parentheses, per a brand guideline.
- Is a short sentence in the source document translated into a much longer sentence in the target document? Perhaps that is the best option to fully convey the message.
- Is a word spelled wrong? Perhaps it was an intentional misspelling in the source text to convey a play on words which the linguist localized for the target language. How, exactly, should one translate “Phi Phi’s Cat Grooming Makes Even Phinnicky Philines Pheel Phantastic!”?
Ensuring that your language solutions provider uses robust, customizable, automated QA tools to augment and complement its professional translators and editors is a great way to ensure quality translations. Want to learn more about Vocalink Global’s automated QA tools? Connect with us today!
