Industry Standards in Translation
Why Do We Need Translation Standards?
Due to the surge of the Internet, the global translation market has developed immensely in the past ten years.
A significant number of companies are entering foreign markets. This means that businesses that never had to deal with foreign languages before are suddenly finding themselves in great need of quality translation services.
When a company is new to the foreign marketplace, and has never dealt with translations before, they may be selecting a translation company that doesn’t produce translations of the same caliber as professional, official translation companies.
If they select one lacking the proper standards for quality translation, it is likely that they will run into major problems. This is why quality translation standards exist.
The adoption of translation standards means more quality control and less risk of problems.
What Does ‘Quality Translation’ Mean?
Many interested companies wonder what a quality translation truly entails. Translation quality should be measured by three characteristics (on top having industry standards). The translation should be:
- Repeatable (two evaluations of the same sample produce similar results)
- Reproducible (different assessors should come to a similar evaluation for the same translation)
- Objective (free of subjective bias)
The main objective of a translation company is to produce the highest possible quality translation or localization.
Our lifetime warranty ensures quality translation because that’s what our clients’ projects demand, so that’s what they deserve.
Types of Standards in Translation Services
As quality translation becomes more of an interest to businesses entering the foreign market, the following industry standards have been developed for translation services.
- The German DIN 2345: This covers translation services, procedures to be used, and contracts for supplying the services. This is thought to be one of the most complete standards.
- The Italian UNI 10574: Establishes the service requirements, activities and processes to be done by translation companies.
- The Austrian Önorm D 1200: Involves standards for translation and interpreting services and the requirements for offering these services.
- The Austrain Önorm D 1201: Covers translation and interpreting services in accordance to the contracts that covers these services.
- The international ISO 12616: Manages terminology that pertains to translation. This standard gathers and registers terminology data to aid in translation.
- ASTM F2575-06: Provides a platform for customers and translation companies to agree on the exact requirements of a translation project. This standard declares parameters that should be considered before starting a translation project.
- EN 15038: Defines basic requirements for translation companies, unifies the terminology used in the translation industry, and creates a platform for the interaction of customers and translation companies (in regards to rights and obligations).