|
tranfree issue 26 - 19th February 2001
New Approach to Translation Quality?by Carolina Medberg As professional translators, most of us would say that the quality of our work is one area where we are not prepared to compromise. But could there be situations where this insistance on quality is actually a hindrance to ourselves and our clients? As a localiser, I am reminded daily of what I jokingly call the "Holy Trinity" of translation resourcing...
...the three interconnected factors which will influence your every decision, large or small. Most of us find that our clients would like to optimize all of these factors at once. Purchasing the best translation as cheaply and quickly as possible helps our clients achieve their objectives. Normally, however, the competitive market in which we operate places limits on the equation. What you gain in one area, you have to sacrifice elsewhere. You can get a fast turnaround translation of high quality, but usually at a premium rate. Or you can get a cheap translation fast, but it won't be as good as some others. How many times have you heard a translator say... "Sure, I'll do it quickly, but Or "This is a difficult text I'll need more time?"
"I can do it cheaply, and I can do it
Why? Perhaps because compromises on quality are not normally made above board. They are made by people who are unprofessional, hoping that the client will never notice. So...
At least in the area of localisation, there is currently a breathtaking amount of content being produced. Much of which will be translated into many languages. Internet startups alone produce millions and millions of words. Why do these businesses want their content translated into different languages? Is it because they would like users in other countries to read and understand it? Maybe not. The objective for these businesses may have nothing to do with the target language readership. It may simply be to say... "We've got 2 million words of ...to a...
The investor isn't likely to be too concerned about translation quality. At least at the moment, investors in new Internet businesses are more likely to consider the number of users who access the site. Thousands of hits can be generated in different countries by displaying links to content in the appropriate languages. The content itself may not be anything to write home about, but that's a different story! Another example is the computer games industry. The simultaneous release of a game in many languages demands cut-throat deadlines. The profit margins for games are small. With all due respect, many users of computer games don't give two hoots about what language the game is in. It could be in Martian for all they care (come to think of it, they might prefer it). In any case, as long as the special effects are up to scratch, most games players don't mind playing the game in English. Localising a computer game is a strategic decision which may have little to do with individual purchasing decisions, and translation quality is not always of the essence. The explosive emergence of new machine translation tools, many of which are available free, illustrates this point. Even the most basic of MT tools provide "gist translations" (more gist than translation, some would argue), that give the user a basic understanding of the message. There are thousands of potential clients out there approaching the translation process with two components of the "Holy Trinity" already set...
Usually, this means that it also has to be of less-than-optimal quality. What will the outcome be, if professional translators are not willing to supply this level of quality?
No. They will find someone else, even if that someone is an MT tool, to do the work. Sometimes they will give the output from this tool to a native speaker (well, a speaker at any rate) to tidy the translation up. This combination will produce a cheap, quick, low quality translation. And to the professional translator, the work will be lost. Personally, I don't have a problem with quality compromises per se. I am a service provider, not a crusader. I can produce quality translations at a fair price and within a reasonable time frame. If I dropped the "quality" bit, I could do it a lot quicker and a lot cheaper, no sweat. But as yet, I do not offer this service. Why not? Because like any other professional translator, I do not lie to people. If you want sub-standard quality, you can have sub-standard quality. But I have to tell you that this is what you're getting. And how do I do that? There isn't a sliding scale for translation quality. Translations tend to be defined as either "good" or "bad". If there is no variation and what you get is a "bad" translation, then why not just use the MT tool and forget about the translator? In practice, translators can achieve any number of variations on quality. There are plenty of opportunities to cut corners by agreement. What is needed is a meaningful way of defining different levels of quality. That way, buyers and suppliers will have a fair chance to negotiate this aspect to fit the needs of a changing market. Ideas, anyone? Come and discuss this at the new tranfree discussion forum... http://www.translatortips.net/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi Carolina Medberg (MIL, English into Swedish) is a localisation translator and consultant based in the UK.
Carolina's presented some interesting ideas here. At ALMAL we have three (human) quality levels...
...in order of increasing cost and time. If I understand correctly, Carolina is suggesting new levels below these, perhaps something along the lines of...
Michael Benis suggested (in ITI Bulletin Dec 99) using MT with a bit of human cleanup to offer an additional... "quick for-information-only" ...translation at lower cost. As long as everyone knows what's happening and you stay in open and honest communication with your clients, this should be OK. With clients you don't know so well, be sure that they understand and acknowledge (in writing) what they are getting. If a client ends up spending $30,000+ publishing your "quick and dirty" effort, you need to be sure you told them in writing... "This translation is not of a quality ...or you could get sued. This is not legal advice by the way. Check the situation in your own country and seek professional guidance.
http://www.translatortips.net/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi
|
...potential
investor.
