How do you ensure the quality of your translations ? Inițiatorul discuției: Melanie Di-Costanzo
|
|---|
Dear All,
I just posted this topic on LinkedIn and would be much pleased to have your opinion too.
How do you ensure your work has highest quality ?
Which process did you set up for this ?
What about ISO 9001/2008 ?
Has somebody been thinking about it ? Is it worth the effort for translators ?
I would be very happy to read from you,
Best,
Melanie
| | | | Tom in London
Regatul Unit
Local time: 15:57
Membru (2008)
din italiană în engleză
| Customer satisfaction | Sep 24, 2014 |
Melanie Di-Costanzo wrote:
How do you ensure your work has highest quality ?
Which process did you set up for this ?
What about ISO 9001/2008 ?
Has somebody been thinking about it ? Is it worth the effort for translators ?
I think you'll find many discussion threads that explore this topic. All translators have their own systems in place to ensure that the work they deliver meets the highest standards. I have mine, and others will have theirs.
As for ISO 9001/2008, I imagine that compliance with this standard may be a requirement for certain types of translation at an official level. However in commercial terms, what matters more is customer satisfaction.
In my opinion, upon delivery of a translation, if the customer is satisfied, that's good enough.
I would worry that needing to comply with ISO 9001/2008 would lead to bureaucratic complications without in any way improving the quality of translations.
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Ţările de Jos
Local time: 16:57
Membru (2006)
din engleză în afrikaans
+ ...
| On goodenoughity | Sep 24, 2014 |
Tom in London wrote:
In my opinion, upon delivery of a translation, if the customer is satisfied, that's good enough.
I like this statement. However, customer satisfaction is the result of more than just translation quality. Satisfaction can be increased with e.g. swiftness and politeness in communication, fast turnaround time, reliability, predictability, and a translation that sails through the QA process with the least number of flags and the least amount of hassles.
Is quality really the most important thing in translation? Isn't efficiency more important?
The ability to apply ISO-like standards to your translation work will depend on the type of clients you have and the type of translations you do. I have several clients who value reliable, predictable service with short turnaround times, with "absolute high quality" taking a back-seat. I'm not saying these clients want rubbish translations, but that if they had to choose between a translation that is merely "good enough" but fast and reliable and one that has sooperdooper quality but takes weeks to complete, with endless queries to the end-client, well, you know what they'll prefer...
But the original poster's question was about quality specifically. I think to ensure quality you need a lot of time, adequate linguistic and/or content resources, and most importantly, more than one pair of eyes. There's no getting away from that. You also need clients who can pay for it and who are willing to wait for it.
| | | | Michal Fabian
Canada
Local time: 10:57
din olandeză în slovacă
+ ...
| This is how: | Sep 24, 2014 |
I translate well.
(This entails being an expert in the subject field, having an impeccable knowledge of the target language and culture as well as thorough knowledge of the source language and culture, and great research skills. Otherwise you're cheating the customer).
As for ISO, it only guarantees that you follow a certain procedure when producing the translations. It does not in any way guarantee quality of the result. How could it? In other words, it doesn't say 'this is n... See more I translate well.
(This entails being an expert in the subject field, having an impeccable knowledge of the target language and culture as well as thorough knowledge of the source language and culture, and great research skills. Otherwise you're cheating the customer).
As for ISO, it only guarantees that you follow a certain procedure when producing the translations. It does not in any way guarantee quality of the result. How could it? In other words, it doesn't say 'this is not shit,' it only says 'this shit has been made like this.'
Agencies know that, of course. How many of those bottom-feeding parasites are ISO-certified? ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Mark
Local time: 16:57
din italiană în engleză
Michal Fabian wrote:
How many of those bottom-feeding parasit[e agencies] are ISO-certified? I would imagine not so many: certification costs.
| | | | | I agree with Michal and Tom | Sep 24, 2014 |
I agree with Michal and Tom in London.
What matters is that we furnish what the customer needs. ISO guarantees you a procedure, but not always quality.
I am bilingual in French and German and translate only in my mother language in which I also propose copywriting in an excellent style. I only accept projects that I can handle and not just anything because there are no projects coming round. I think it's important to concentrate on some fields. No one can do everything.... See more I agree with Michal and Tom in London.
What matters is that we furnish what the customer needs. ISO guarantees you a procedure, but not always quality.
I am bilingual in French and German and translate only in my mother language in which I also propose copywriting in an excellent style. I only accept projects that I can handle and not just anything because there are no projects coming round. I think it's important to concentrate on some fields. No one can do everything.
[Modifié le 2014-09-24 11:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | neilmac
Spania
Local time: 16:57
din spaniolă în engleză
+ ...
| Never mind the ISO, feel the feedback | Sep 24, 2014 |
I think I agree with all the posts so far. For me, the main thing is to follow the cub scout mantra I learnt many moons ago: "DYB dyb dyb" (Do Your Best). When other people, clients and colleagues start telling you how great you are, that's when to start worrying about it.
IMO there is too much lip service to the rather intangible notion of "quality" nowadays anyway. File under "sustainable development" and "social commitment", etc.
| | | | | Quality, QA and client satisfaction are three different things | Sep 24, 2014 |
Quality is how good or bad your translation is, and all other 'hows' in general. Literally, quality means howness in Latin. (As opposed to quantity, i.e. number, volume etc.) Quality of translation is separate from quality of service.
QA is silly stuff you use X-Bench for or some F-key bind in your CAT tool. It can also include internal terminological consistency or consistency with a received glossary or client requirements. In the latter case, it has more to do with quali... See more Quality is how good or bad your translation is, and all other 'hows' in general. Literally, quality means howness in Latin. (As opposed to quantity, i.e. number, volume etc.) Quality of translation is separate from quality of service.
QA is silly stuff you use X-Bench for or some F-key bind in your CAT tool. It can also include internal terminological consistency or consistency with a received glossary or client requirements. In the latter case, it has more to do with quality of service than quality of translation. The very notion of it is demeaning.
Client satisfaction (we are a profession, customers are for normal businesses to serve) may be related to quality but is a separate thing. Clients may be satisfied with a bad translation for all sorts of reasons (e.g. because client service was satisfactory and they can't judge the quality of the work) or dissatisfied with a good one (because they are ignorant). They may be satisfied if the quality of client service is poor or nonexistent, as long as the job is done well.
ISO 335445745785:2044 has no bearing on the quality of my work. The quality of my work is ensured by my education, experience, overall mental aptitude and diligence and sometimes endurance. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| Quality of sworn translators (Spain) | Sep 25, 2014 |
Hello, Melanie and all.
As a sworn translator, my quality is certified in Spain by the hard official examination we have to pass.
Besides, in my opinion, translators know how to be efficient and, of course, keep their clients. What does this mean? That they have a method and a quality. Like any other job.
In general, agencies (not individuals) comply with ISO 9001/2008, at least my clients: that means that they ensure that all their translators fufill them ... See more Hello, Melanie and all.
As a sworn translator, my quality is certified in Spain by the hard official examination we have to pass.
Besides, in my opinion, translators know how to be efficient and, of course, keep their clients. What does this mean? That they have a method and a quality. Like any other job.
In general, agencies (not individuals) comply with ISO 9001/2008, at least my clients: that means that they ensure that all their translators fufill them too (contracts, diplomas etc.). I never thought it was necessary for me to directly comply with ISO. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Ţările de Jos
Local time: 16:57
Membru (2006)
din engleză în afrikaans
+ ...
Susana E. Cano Méndez wrote:
As a sworn translator, my quality is certified in Spain by the hard official examination we have to pass.
That only assures the quality of the translator, not each translation.
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 10:57
Membru (2008)
din franceză în engleză
+ ...
| Client doesn't know | Sep 25, 2014 |
IMO, quality for translators means more than satisfying the client, because we are producing a product for which the client, if he doesn't speak the target language, has no way of measuring the quality. As professionals we need to know what quality the client would want if he were able to tell, and give him that or better.
ISO 9001 has especially little to do with it - it simply says that whatever you do you will leave a record. It's no guarantee of quality.
| | | | | I think I agree | Sep 26, 2014 |
John Fossey wrote:
IMO, quality for translators means more than satisfying the client, because we are producing a product for which the client, if he doesn't speak the target language, has no way of measuring the quality. As professionals we need to know what quality the client would want if he were able to tell, and give him that or better.
Yeah. When client satisfaction is paramount, it makes it look like the translator is a does-what-is-told kind of person, basically akin to a physical worker or concierge maybe (a carrier-out of instructions, someone who needs skills to be able to carry out instructions, but who gets paid for the carrying out of instructions, not for the use of the skills).
This said, I'd say client satisfaction is not irrelevant to quality, after all, in some types of translation. Notably, when the translation is intended for business purposes and it isn't unfaithful or ridden with language errors but is still imperfect, then if it's good enough for the client it probably is good enough. It doesn't work so much the other way round.
[Edited at 2014-09-26 13:28 GMT]
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » How do you ensure the quality of your translations ? | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.
More info » |
| | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
