Category Archives: Localization

What Does Culture Have to do with Translations

Translation is not a concept in vacuum, but is invariably a culturally mediated notion especially relevant for global businesses targeting new cultural destinations. For instance, if you want to translate English into Spanish, the words and expressions translated must be culturally compatible, because the literal translation may at times sound ridiculous or may not make sense at all.

Need of translating in local languages

Big multinational companies wanting to reach across diverse cultures have indispensable translation needs. While English is pretty much a universal language, companies get their promotional material translated into multiple languages because they need to reach across different cultures and they need to establish a connection with their diverse clients.

So, pretty much every company wants to get the their product brochures and manuals translated from English into Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, German, Russian, Hindi, and several other languages. Translation services help in promotional strategies of a company.

The most successful companies are the ones that are not only able to reach the international market, but also to make an impact. Language is one huge barrier in having the right promotional strategy. However, the same language can turn into an asset for a company with right translation service, so the customers begin to understand the products intimately because it is in their mother language.

Avoiding translation mistakes

Translation mistakes can leave you laughing, but could entail enormous loss to the company represented by the translation. Their image could take a beating that may be difficult to retrieve in the short term. Translation mistakes send the wrong message across. It implies that you not only made a half-hearted attempt at translation, but also that you are only after money. Translation from English into Spanish or any other language should faithfully reflect the cultural touch to be meaningful.

The translator should also bear in mind that literal, word for word translation can change the meaning of a message. Often a dictionary may not be of much help in cases involving technical translations. Translators should be aware with regional variations in different dialects. For instance English into Spanish translation of bus is “autobus” but it becomes “guagua” in Puerto Rican version of Spanish.

Literal translation often distorts the meaning to ludicrous extent. For instance, the menu in a Swiss restaurant translated in English claimed “Our wines leave you nothing to hope for”. Surely, all it wanted to claim was their wines are so good that nothing can compare with the feeling.

Dealing with cultural incompatibility

Cultural incompatibility is a frequently faced issue in translations, not just from English into Spanish translation, but almost every translation. Brands and products often move into the other country without a clear understanding of the native culture. Translation of slang is often the most problematic issue. Therefore, translators should preferably be from the same culture where any product is being introduced. In addition, the work they do should pass through several filters before final adoption.

Reaching your target audience in the right way

When you have to reach your international target audience, you need to break the language and cultural barriers effectively. It is obvious that translation plays a critical role in this task. The translation should not appear like translation but direct communication. For instance, your English into Spanish translation should not appear to the native that it is a translation, but they should perceive it as a direct communication from the native company.

A small mistake could be hugely embarrassing, and the connection with the target audience is immediately lost. For instance “Tegro” a fat loss product was about to be introduced in France, when it was discovered that it sounded like “tes’gros” which means you’re fat!

How Language Service Providers Can Help Your Business

Your business may be doing well in a local market, but then the decision is made to go global. The greatest hurdle in globalizing a business comes from culture and language. The goal of businesses is to connect products as well as services to the clients and buyers in the international market. This is when a language service provider comes in to help make the connection. The company will thrive if it is able to reach a larger audience in their native tongue. The organization can reach its fullest potential only when it makes available all of their products and services to the global market. So, the company will have to consider translating its brochures, campaigns, websites, flyers, and product descriptions in the region-specific language.

Why do you need an LSP?

Organizations may have employees who speak different languages, however they already have tasks including core business functions. Also, just because someone is a native speaker does not mean they have the grammar, spelling and word-smithing skills needed to properly communicate a global message. The employees however have the field knowledge and the day to day vocabulary that would be of great assistance to a professional linguist. Often employees try to tackle a translation task and after much frustration and delays they understand how much a language service provider is needed. Language service providers are experts in their field who understand the unique needs of each client they handle. They work in close association with businesses to ensure the message is masterfully delivered in the target language. When selecting an LSP, ensure you have a partner who can grow with you. You may only need one language now but if your LSP offers many, it will mean less work in the future. LSPs also offer a range of services -from product functionality testing to presentations – be sure to select a partner who can provide any delivery format you will need now or in the future.

LSP helps you localize your business

LSPs not only translate but also help localize. Localization is something beyond translation. It is adaptation of your business communication to ensure the message is conveyed to global audiences. It is not just literal translation but the linguistic equivalent by a native speaker who has a better understanding of the target market. In other words, word choice is critical for cultural implications with a focus on the tone.

It is important to take into account the cultural conformity of the target audience especially when dealing with numbers, times, dates and the counting system of the target audience. For example, you may need to add metric with imperial measurements. Your LSP should use only native speakers to ensure localization is addressed with the translation.

Obtaining high quality translations

Language service providers utilize professional native speaking translators who strive to ensure your translations are accurate and effective. The translators working on your projects should have an advanced degree in translation studies /linguistics or similar fields as not all LSPs are equal. If your LSP has language experts, they know how to maximize the use of language tools efficiently for accuracy and speed to minimize inaccuracies.

In addition, many of these translators have specialized backgrounds or accredited expertise in technological, legal and medical translations. So, if your content is specialized, you should require a higher level of understanding and technical specialization from your LSP.

High quality translations come from highly qualified professionals. The difference between good and bad translations is the difference in the qualification and experience of the translators. Therefore the focus of language service providers should be to match the best translation professionals to your needs.

LSP can help you with its resources and tools

In addition to the quality of translators, the resources and tools available can make a huge difference. The best LSPs ensure that the best translation resources and tools are accessible to their workers. One such essential tool is translation memory, which is intelligent software. It retains terms for consistency and for future reference. Translation memory also enables the client to see discounts on repetitive text over time. If your LSP uses translation memory, ensure review comments and changes are updated in the memory so current terms are used in future work. Also ensure you are able to obtain a copy of the translation memory should you ever need to change providers. Tools like translation memory can reduce the turnaround time, cost and workload.. Resources available to your LSP are also important. If you LSP only has in-house resources this limits their language offerings, turnaround time, and abilities as well as expertise. If your LSP has a network of partners, you will have more resources available for your current and future needs..

Businesses that outsource their translation needs to LSPs are actually making a wise decision that eventually helps them focus on their day to day core business. In addition, they eventually go on to build a program that improves their translated content, saves time and money as well as enhances their presence in the global market.

Internationalize Your Business for Greater Success

Localization of products and services provides a huge amount of success for a business as it makes the product or service usable for any locale. However, the product or service will not be able to survive the international markets, or even localization for that matter, if it is not internationalized first. Otherwise, the core application would have to be modified by a translation agency to create provisions for local languages or user interface settings. Internationalization of your product or service will ensure that you can launch your software easily, and modify the user interface according to the needs of the local cultures

What Exactly Does Internationalization Mean?

Internationalization basically means making the product or service ready for future localization. Internationalization is sometimes abbreviated as i18n. This is because of the reason that there are 18 letters between the first ‘I’ and the last ‘N’ of the word. During this process, the product or service is redesigned or re-engineered for the future localization, so that it will be easier for the product to be used easily by users with different backgrounds, languages, and cultures.

Internationalization needs some serious thought, because it means that your product will be all over the world. Improper internationalization could mean that your application needs to undergo changes in the code before it can be localized. This can be a very tedious job, and can also be very counterproductive. This is why, for the benefit of your business, it is required that you internationalize your product through a translation agency at the very beginning. Make sure that you check the internationalization with your language service provider, etc.

How Exactly Does It Work?

Internationalization is a part of the bigger globalization of a product or a service. To internationalize your product, first determine what kind of global features your product needs to support. For instance, your application would need to support all the Unicode characters. This will enable you to launch the product in the Asian markets like Japan and China. After this is done, you need to externalize all the localizable data. Then you need to design specific user interfaces and search and sort functionalities.

You must also remember to include support for the currency, date and time formats, and addresses for different geographical areas. You can also add extra functionalities like bi-directional support for right to left scripts like Hebrew or Arabic. This can be done through a translation agency. And don’t forget to add the multi-byte support for characters in the different languages. You can also follow certain coding practices to make the whole process easier.

The concept of internationalization, though very useful, does not apply to every situation. Generally, internationalization is done on certain software, the web, and user interfaces. However, if you are indecisive about whether you need to internationalize or not, then you must know that there are some situations where internationalization is inevitable.

If you are launching your product globally for the first ever time, you need to internationalize it before doing that. If you are launching a product or service which you need to function worldwide, internationalization is needed for such a product or service. If you want to expand the market of your software internationally or if you want to avoid the tedious and costly processes that can take place during a localization process, you should do internationalization. If your software is to be sold with language specific functionalities, targeted at new markets, you can use a translation agency to do the internationalization for you.

Remember to complete your internationalization process before starting localization of your products. This will ensure that you do not have to reengineer your products to suit the needs of international markets. It will also ensure the quicker delivery of your products and will not raise the costs of the project.

How Software Localization Helps You to Maximize the Reach of Your Business

With your business booming and the numbers being better than previous financial quarters, you might decide to expand the operations of your business. The problem you are facing might be that you already have expanded all over the country and are wondering where to go next. It is time for you to take the plunge and expand globally, taking your business to new and unfamiliar places. Quite obviously, there will be a lot of planning and preparation required in order to carry out an endeavor such as expanding a business overseas.

However, the most important part is the process is the actual translation, which you can manage by contracting a translation company. You will need to transfer every bit of your content into the target languages and try to bridge the gap, which separates your business from the potential customers globally. Even though you may have a lot of questions regarding the process of translation, the only one that really matters is how long the process might take.

Where to start?

Before the translation process begins, it is essential for you to analyze as to how the materials will be translated. You can hire a language service provider, who will usually help with professional translations. The translator’s job will be to completely understand what exactly the material communicates and then reproduce it accurately in a particular language.

It is essential to remember that a good translator from a reputed translation company must know the refinements of the source language. He must be fluent in the target language as well as the source language. Familiarizing themselves to the content in the materials that need translation will help as well. The translator must communicate ideas, which isn’t usually possibly when translation is completed in a literal word for word process. If the translator is a linguist it would be even more helpful as linguists tend to undergo extensive language training and translation.

How exactly does it work?

Usually, translators tend to utilize a combination of translation tools, computer and technology in order to achieve maximum efficiency during the process. The process begins with the conversion of the source piece into a certain file format, which is quite simple to work with such as rich text format. Once this is done, a translation memory is applied to the source text, which will help with accessing the previous translations made for the current material. If there is any previous translation found, the text is instantly plugged in.

The next step is for the translation company to review the plugged in translations for efficiency and accuracy, after which the remaining content will be translated from scratch. Every segment of the source text is read and translated with constant reference to a style guide and glossary. Eventually, the content is translated into the target language. Once it is complete, the text must be thoroughly proofread and edited as well. Another translator usually performs this task or even a linguist can do this in order to ensure that the translation is of high quality. The translated content is then put into its original format, finalizing the translation process.

What is the duration?

Translation is a slow but steady process, and cannot be expected to be done overnight. An experienced translator usually takes a day to translate about two thousand words, which is close to about eight pages of material. It is essential to understand that the time taken for the process will entirely depend on the amount of content to be translated and the difficulty level of the source content.

English happenes to be one of the most critical languages in translation since it contains various subtleties and nuances such as rigid syntax, phrasal verbs and vocabulary peculiarities. Basically, translation is a process that doesn’t exactly work on deadlines and requires a bit of patience.

Expand Your Reach with Software Localization

Globalization has made the world a smaller place. Now, it is possible to manufacture a product in the eastern nations of Asia, and sell them on the western coast of Europe, all in a matter of days. As such, the need for having a global presence of your business has increased and is a must if you want your product or service to be successful on a global scale. Software localization becomes an essential component in this regard.

What is software localization?

Software localization involves the process of localizing or adapting any software to the technical, cultural, and linguistic requirements of various target markets. This is a labor intensive process and usually needs substantial time and effort from the developers.

Software localization is quite different from translation. It involves the process of translating and adapting a web product or software, and every other documentation related to the product. Translation barely translates the document without any reference to the local cultural and linguistic traditions. Software localization often runs parallel to the source product development and enables the manufacturer to simultaneously ship the product in different language versions. For instance, software strings translation may generally begin even when the product is going through the beta phase. Translation is simply one of the steps in the software localization process; completing this step doesn’t mean the product is ready for the market yet.

Tips for localizing your software

Many organizations are now actively seeking localization of their software offerings for different markets throughout the world. In this endeavor, many attempts on software localization are met with frustration after the software has been developed. The fonts may not be exact, the text may be garbled, and the encoding might be off, sentences may not come in an aesthetic format, or the overall design may not look as expected. The tips given below will guide you to successfully localize your software for specific markets.

Plan in advance: Proper scheduling must be done for localizing your software for different markets. Most companies tend to rush localization just before the actual software release, which compromises on the quality of the localization.

Test the software: Localized software should go through the same rigorous testing as the original product. The awareness resulting from looking at a different language “in context” inside your product is irreplaceable.

Leave sufficient space for expansion of text in foreign language: There are many languages which, on average, take up 30% more space than English. In case you have designed a software where English text just about fits in the space, it is likely you will face problems later on. As such, leave sufficient space when designing your product for compensations later on.

Localization-friendly string encoding: Wherever possible, you should source software resources or string tables in Unicode/UTF-8 format. This avoids garbled text, debugging, and unnecessary conversion steps.

Remove hard-coded strings through “pseudo localization”: In temporary branches, you can use general expression to take the place of all letters inside the text, with one repeated text like “XXXX”. Create the product, and all hard-coded text will throw up on the screen, showing IDs which aren’t given in string tables.

Avoid overusing single strings and concatenation: The structure of a sentence in English may not be followed in some other language. Strings used in different contexts, and concatenated strings will have gender and grammar agreement issues. Be generous with memory while localizing your software.

Overall, software localization has become an important step in the process of adapting your product for specific markets, and can potentially decide the success of your product in those markets. As such, you should make sure to perform localization in the best possible manner.

Best Practices for Software Localization

Software localization – where your software is customized to suit a specific language or region – is a great way of expanding your business. But if you are not prepared, it may cause many hassles such as garbled text, wrong encoding, and crashes. All these frustrations may be avoided if you prepare well for the localization.

Plan In Advance

More often than not, the reason software applications fall apart at attempts on localization is because the application was not conceptualized with localization in mind. As a result, there were no provisions created for language change or other modifications required for localization. Planning in advance can prevent this.

Design your software with provisions for localization like character support for different languages, so that the grammar of these languages can also be incorporated. Along with content localization, you should also focus on testing localization so that your software localization is more effective. Build a detailed testing plan in English and use the same plan in the localized tests also.

Remember that the feel of your software should be like the locally built software for native users. They should be able to use it without feeling like it was built by someone unfamiliar with their culture. Planning ahead will ensure that your software has this local feel.

Leave Provision for Text Expansion

Languages other than English have a more extended character set, so just using English standards will not be enough if you want to make truly localized software. Using UTF-8 standards always is the best practice for software localization. This prevents extra conversion and garbling of text. Keeping provision for dynamic expansion of UI is also a good practice.

Never use hard coded strings, especially for date and time formats. This is because different countries use different date and time formats. Same goes with currency. Naming conventions may also be different for different countries. Some write the given name before the family name, and some the opposite. Some cultures even have just one name for a person.

Grammar varies from language to language. “Red pencil” in English translates to “crayon rouge” in French. So if you are thinking of concatenating strings, it will not work out for software localization. Keep in mind, no string should ever be overused.

Other Considerations

The GUI and other aspects of the software will be translated by professional translators, and not by your engineers. So if you make the context and the meanings of the translatable parts clear to them through comments, they will be able to do it more easily. Furthermore, they will be consistent with the context right from the beginning to the end of the translation.

Make sure that the translation company you choose is an experienced and expert one, so that they can help with the translation of your software as well as help in documentation and at the same time maintain consistency between the two.

Always remember changing the language does not fully localize the software unless you use the full locale for that region. For example, if the software is supposed to be in English, it can be used in the America or in Britain, but then the spelling and naming conventions would change for software localization, even though the language remains the same (color vs. colour, or elevator vs. lift). Internalization support is also important in your software. It will allow the native formats for currency, date, and time for individual regions to be shown in a way familiar to the region-specific users.

As is evident from this article, software localization is never complete unless it is aligned to the local customs, conventions, and culture of the region it is being localized for. While planning and designing your software, keep provisions for not only language support, but also for other region-specific local conventions to avoid last minute worries.

Choosing the Right Translation Services for Localization

The rapid globalization of businesses has meant increased translation and localization needs. Most of the businesses are in acute need of a translation agency and the services it provides. However, there are several issues that they face in their attempt to find a perfect match between their needs and the service providers even as there are a plethora of language service companies.

Right translation methods

The best form of translation is done by a professional translation company where a translator probably does the job of translation. They can give quality. However, there are several issues which human translations alone cannot meet. These issues include the need for bulk translation, the number of languages needed, and the need for faster turnaround.

There are several methods of translation such as human and machine translation. In addition there also exists human aided machine translation. Crowd sourcing is yet another recent approach to translation. However, nothing can work better for the localization needs than human translation. But then there are challenges with human translation as mentioned above.

The need for quick turnaround and the huge quantum of data necessitates enterprises to adopt more strategies than just a single one. So, a combination of several translation methods is often used by the companies that need translations urgently. The use of multiple methods also helps to keep the project cost reasonable.

Method of implementation

Enterprises needing bulk translation are also faced with some other challenges. This has more to do with the technology. Translation service is not a solo effort, nor is localization possible without collaboration. So, the eBusiness professionals are faced with the challenge of integrating translation solutions into the web content management integration systems platform.

More specifically, the challenge is whether or not to go ahead with web content management integration, and if yes, how to go about it. Yet another issue is that of the budget. While technology facilitates the task of integration, the use of human translators can prove extremely cost prohibitive for many enterprises.

In view of the budgetary and IT resource challenges, a popular method gaining increasingly more prominence is translations that are proxy based. Website content can be easily translated using this method because it comes easily and at a high speed. However, direct in house localization using eCommerce or WCMS platform offers more control.

Translation of media

Translation projects are increasingly getting complex. There is a huge motivation in translation to expand the global reach across cultures. Moreover, it is not just the textual content that is critical in translation needs. Contents come in multiple forms such as video, flash and images, apart from the textual content.

Evidently then translation and localization projects have huge stakes for service providers as well as for eCommerce sites. Therefore, there is a mutual need that each of them must endeavor to fulfill. If the eCommerce professionals begin to handle it on their own, they will be faced with multiple problems because of rapidly populating content on their sites.

Therefore, managing the in-house content strategy can be a real task that most of them will find difficult to cope up with losing focus from their main area. The alternative to this strategy is to get the help of a vendor to meet the translation needs. However, there are several top level language service providers so that necessary caution must be applied in choosing the vendor that can, not only meet the requirements, but meet them suitably. Of course, the first thing you may want to look in them is their past experience of having performed similar tasks before.

The increasing globalization of businesses and emergence of hundreds of thousands of eCommerce sites have necessitated the need for localization and translation. However, there are several factors that have made the task of translation quite a challenge for the enterprises. The alternative for them is to look for an external language vendor to whom they can outsource the task of translation.

Mistakes to Avoid In Technical Translations

Most companies when dealing with overseas business will do everything right, but when it comes to technical translations, they will consider it as the most dispensable task. This is possibly because they think English is a nearly universal language, spoken and understood all over the world. It is important, however, that they offer safe operating guidelines in several languages.

Translating only to English

It is wrong to presume that English alone will serve the purpose. This fallacious assumption stems from the fact that many international managers are well versed in English. They can read, write and understand English. However, only because the top managers speak and understand English does not mean that every customer understands the language.

In fact most nations, including members of EU, have clear guidelines stating that user manuals, including safety documents, must come with technical translation into the first language of the country in which the product will be sold. Companies should consider this exercise as leading to customer satisfaction that would, in turn, lead to the acceptance of their products.

Cost Effective Is Not the Best Option

The companies that don’t value the importance of language in the product manual meant for consumers usually go ahead with free online translation program or hire a cheap translator. It is important to understand that technical translation is a value addition to your business that makes your company sustainable in the long run. So, the best companies do not go with the cheapest deal.

Companies should ideally give time and attention to the task of translation because it brings them value. They can begin by interviewing translation professionals or companies and then enquiring from them about their process and how they maintain quality and standardization.

Asking the Dealer to Translate It

It is ridiculous that some companies leave the task of translation on the hands of their country specific dealers. There is a huge difference in the quality of work that dealers will perform and the ones performed by the professional translators. It is quite possible that the dealers speak English, but the point is that they may not be as proficient in the language as a qualified translator.

It is important to keep in mind that technical translation is quite a challenging task involving the translation of user manual, sales sheets and safety instructions. If at all, a company has to take the assistance of the dealers – they should be consulted for the useful material in their locality.

Take Metric System into Account

Manuals and documents that use gallons, miles, feet and yards tend to confuse international consumers. The metric system is used nearly in every nation except in North America. North American companies that prepare technical documents or use manuals for international consumers usually overlook this aspect. This could be a minor lapse with huge implications.

An important lesson that companies can learn from this lapse is to take metric system into account in pretty much all overseas technical translation and in the creation of new source documents.

Plan Ahead

Companies consign huge resources to advance planning. They have teams exclusively devoted to this task and nearly every aspect of their business moves like a clockwork in a planned planner. However, translation, which is a critical aspect of nearly every multinational business, remains neglected. This short sightedness on the part of companies is strange and inexplicable.

How can products be sold without anyone giving a thought to the need for technical translation? The documents and user manuals will finally go in the hands of the end users. However, when the translation is rushed through the last moment the results are pretty much predictable. Therefore, the translation requires the same degree of pre-planning as the other aspects of the business.

Technical translation is one of the most important concerns that must be factored into doing overseas business by the companies. There are several important things to take note of when considering translation of documents and manuals. Right and appropriate translation adds to the value of the business and leads to consumer satisfaction.

Best Practices for Translation

Any business catering to a global audience needs to be multilingual. It is a well-known fact that a large percentage of global population speaks English, but since it is not their first language, some of them face issues related to written communication in English. By making communication multilingual, you can create goodwill and open up your business to new audiences. You can become multilingual by resorting to the aid of bilingual employees or by hiring a translation company.

Reasons Why You Should Hire Professional Translation Services

Using bilingual employees to translate communication is cheap but not the best route. A bilingual employee may have excellent verbal skills but generally not a satisfactory written skill. This may lead to inaccuracies in communication, which can be harmful especially with regard to legal documents.

There are multiple benefits in engaging a translation company. The first one is that a translation company will have translators for multiple languages and, therefore, you will get all your work done through one source. Second, translation companies must be aware of cultural sensitivity in terms of language and are able to prevent messy missteps. Third, your employees stay focused on the tasks for which you hired them.

The Essential Best Practices to Be Followed for Translation

Whether bilingual employees or a translation company is handling your multilingual efforts, there are some practices you should follow:

1. Do not choose an employee or translation company at random. Scrutinize their work, their policies and past quality before making your choice.
2. Do not just choose random languages. Make language additions that will benefit your business.
3. Standardize vital documents to ensure consistency over multiple channels.
4. Appoint a coordinator, set a budget and plan the translation process. A coordinator ensures someone is responsible for achieving your goals and ensures that you do not exceed your budget. Documentation reduces redundancy and ensures a smoother process in case of future additions.

The Importance of Writing and Designing Documents Appropriately

The purpose of any document is to communicate a concept or knowledge to the end client, in order to invoke an action or a thought process. Using language that requires a PHD to understand will only cause setbacks. Follow the KISS principle (Keep it Short and Simple) when writing and design documents. Ensuring that information is easy to read and understand reduces the need for additional personal contact with the customer. It will even make documents easier to translate. In case of documents requiring certain wording for legal purposes, keep the language simple and crisp.

Increasing the Overall Quality and Consistency of Your Documents

Transforming an operation from single language to a multilingual process does not change your business or your goals or values. Every document needs to carry the same essence or tone, irrespective of the language. The best way to ensure consistency is to create style guides and glossaries. A style guide lets translators know your linguistic and stylistic preferences. A glossary contains important terms with your preferred translations. These guides and glossaries do not affect costs nor increase timelines. They just ensure that translation companies use languages that best suit your business. Multilingual communication will help increase the overall quality and consistency of your documents.

You Can Play a Role Too in the Translation Process

Once you have hired a translation company, decided on the processes and created style guides and glossaries, you can step back and wait for the results or you can be proactive. Get the most out of translation companies by taking part of the process, which does not mean hovering until the work is done. Just be available to answer any questions or queries the translation company may ask. Join organizations to be aware of any changes in laws, so that changes can be implemented across all languages simultaneously. These processes will help you reach new markets, so, make sure to make the most of them.

Increasing globalization has made multilingual communication necessary for any business seeking to capture new audiences and markets. The best way to go from single language communication to multilingual communication is with the aid of a good translation company. Choose a translation company carefully and ensure that the best practices of translation are followed.

The Importance of Linguistic Quality Assurance

Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA) forms an essential phase in every successful translation project, whether it is document translation or website translation. Clients deserve and expect high-quality language translation for their projects. Errors in the final translation can affect the customer’s confidence in the service vendor’s professionalism and the integrity of their project. Therefore, it is imperative for service providers to do the projects without any linguistic mistakes.

LQA Teams

The translation or localization service provider you choose will have a linguistic quality assurance team on their list of professionals. The service provider should ensure that the proofreader and the linguistic editor who worked on the project during the editing and quality assurance are not the same ones who did the original translation. Some linguists may try to perform self copy editing and proofreading. This does not guarantee a high-quality content for the customer.

Translation and editing are two steps done by different linguists. In this process, an editor is tasked with checking and proofreading the original content from the translator for accuracy and completeness. Next comes the linguistic quality assurance process, which forms the final quality checking step. Service providers should implement the linguistic quality assurance process, which reviews the translated content for linguistic, industry, and technical correctness. This will ensure that the customer has a successful and perfect translation delivered to him in all multimedia, software localization, website, and document projects.

During the linguistic quality assurance process, an expert ensures that the final transcript is accurate technically, that is it should have appropriate tense, proper collocations/word use, no spelling errors, proper grammatical structure, and style as well as grammar consistency.

Purpose of Linguistic Quality Assurance

The linguistic quality assurance step is also done to review the translation for correct usage of linguistic phrasing such as terminology, cultural accuracy, idiomatic expressions, and local terms. Doing this ensures that the final work is a perfect rendition for target markets, and that it also seems as natural to the audience in the target locale as the source content did to the original audience. Linguistic quality assurance also makes sure that the final content does not seem like an awkward and stilted literal translation.

Lastly, the LQA phase reviews the translated file for industrial accuracy, whether the content has corresponding industrial jargon or terminology of any specific subject. For instance, different industries like hospitality, technology, food, and so on have industry-specific terminologies that will have to be inducted into the final content to make it more compatible with the target audience.

Skills Desired in LQA Professionals

A linguistic quality assurance professional is generally expected to have the following skills:

English Proficiency: Testing the localized products needs a strong understand of the original language, which often is English.

Target Language Proficiency: An LQA tester should have a strong base in the target language. The testers not only have to be experts in the target language, but also remain up–to-date in the language.

Computer Knowledge: Testers generally have to report defects, test product functionality, or take screenshots of the final product. Proficiency in operating computers ensures that the LQA tester does not get stuck with simple troubleshooting tasks.

Internet Skills: Verifying texts and specific terminologies, as well as searching for common expressions and terms requires solid research skills and also common sense. An expert tester is one who can pay attention to details and find exactly what he or she is looking for.

When searching for a localization service provider, you should look for someone who is as committed to providing careful localization for the products as you are. Linguistic quality assurance should be done at every stage of the project so as to ensure that the vendor meets the expectations for the final product or service.