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How Does Quality Control Work in Translation?

Madrid, 14/03/2024

When you entrust your translation to a Language Service Provider (LSP), you should know that you won't just rely on the work of a translator and/or a proofreader. At Word Works, we have an entire team dedicated to supervising and managing all phases of the project, from the initial steps, like file analysis and budgeting, to the final step: quality control.

Quality control is the last step in the translation process and, for this reason, it is one of the most delicate phases of the project.

This is the moment when, as an LSP, we ensure that the final product meets our quality standards, based on the guidelines of the ISO standards with which we are certified.

Mistakes can be made, and even the most experienced translator is not perfect, so it's crucial that the text undergoes another set of eyes before delivery.

For this reason, once we receive the translation, we implement various procedures that allow us to detect potential inconsistencies or errors and correct anything that is needed.

Quality Control and Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) Tools

Technology has become an important ally to all the steps of the translation process. It guarantees us greater speed and efficiency in our work. Quality control is no exception.

We often use CAT tools segmenting texts into sentences and arranging them in two columns: the original text and its corresponding translation.

This system helps us work in a faster and more organized way allowing us, among many other things, to store translations from each client in translation memories (TMs) to be used in future projects.

These tools are also very useful in the quality control phase. They integrate systems to analyze the text, compare it with the original, and highlight potential errors. For instance, they would highlight if one same sentence has been translated differently in two different parts of a project; if any segment has been left untranslated; if there are double spaces, punctuation errors, format differences (bold, italics, etc.), or date and number discrepancies...

These tools also allow the integration of glossaries so that the most important terms for a specific client are always translated in the same way. Additionally, quality control tools use these glossaries to highlight potential inconsistencies that need to be corrected.

However, machines often detect potential errors where there are none, and this is where the role of the Quality Control Manager comes into play. This figure is essential because they review all these potential errors and check if there is anything to correct, always staying in contact with the translator and relying on their professional judgment.

One QA is Not Enough

Does our Quality Control Process end here? Well, no. Instead of putting all our trust in a single tool, we go through the whole process again with a second one. After performing the initial quality control using our CAT integrated tool, we use a second external software. After these two steps are performed, we use a final spell-check tool to check for any typos that may need fixing.

That's Not All!

We also must pay attention to the layout, therefore it's very important to check the visual aspect of the translated documents. When translating from English to a Romance language like Spanish, Italian, or French, for instance, translated texts often have more words than the original. These differences in text length can affect the appearance of files and misplace images, symbols, or tables.

For this reason, before delivering the translated document to the client, we always compare it with the original and make the necessary layout corrections so that all content appears and reads correctly.