In the global marketplace, quality translations are vital for ensuring your customer support team can effectively communicate with international clients. Accurate translations enhance customer satisfaction and uphold your brand’s integrity. Yet, achieving high-quality translations consistently can be a challenge. This blog outlines a three-step method for evaluating translation quality, providing your team with actionable insights to guarantee accuracy and reliability.

Translation is pivotal in the interconnected world, bridging cultural and linguistic gaps. Whether you’re an individual or an organization, understanding the importance of translation can enhance communication and foster global relationships. Read more in our blog “What is translation and how it powers global business success”.

Before we get into the methodology, it’s important to understand the power translation can have in propelling your business forward and how meaningful it is to your customers. Even if you only serve customers in a single market, they are likely from diverse backgrounds and thus speak different languages.  

By supporting them in their native language, you deepen their relationship with the brand and help them resolve problems more rapidly.  But what does it do for your company?  Having quality translations and supporting customers in their native language:

Facilitates Global Communication

Translation enables people from different linguistic backgrounds to communicate effectively. It is crucial in international business, diplomacy, and cross-cultural exchanges, helping prevent misunderstandings and fostering collaboration.

Enhances Accessibility

Translation makes information accessible to a broader audience. This is vital in sectors like education and healthcare, where access to knowledge and services can significantly impact people’s lives.

Supports Economic Growth

In the business world, translation is a gateway to new markets. By localizing content, businesses can reach and engage with audiences worldwide, expanding their customer base and increasing revenue.

Facilitates Legal and Technical Processes

Accurate translation is critical in legal and technical fields where precision is paramount. It ensures that contracts, patents, and technical documents are understood exactly as intended across different languages, minimizing legal risks and technical errors.

Translation Quality Assurance Can Accelerate Your Business

Now that we’ve discussed the benefits for your business and customers, there is another thing to consider –the quality of the translation. All the goodwill you’ve built by translating content for your customers can be undone if the quality is bad. There have been so many memes and even entire sites dedicated to bad translations, and no brand wants to be among those ridiculed on sites like this one from Bored Panda.

Even if the translation isn’t so bad, it’s humorous, you still want to focus on ensuring your message is accurately conveyed across different languages is not just a best practice—it’s a necessity.  Let’s explore the potential pitfalls of bad translation and how they can affect your business:

Brand Reputation

One of the most immediate effects of poor translation is on brand reputation. A single mistranslated word can completely alter the meaning of your message, leading to misunderstandings or even offense. This can damage your trust with your audience and harm your brand’s image. Remember, first impressions matter, and your communication needs to reflect the professionalism and reliability of your brand. Having a quality translation assessment would have avoided scaring people off of this chocolate which we are sure is delicious if not a bit terrifying.

Customer Experience

The customer experience is at the heart of any successful business. When translations are inaccurate, customers may struggle to understand your products or services, leading to frustration and decreased satisfaction. This can result in lost sales and a reduction in customer loyalty. Clear, accurate translations ensure that customers receive the information they need to make informed decisions, enhancing their overall experience with your brand.

Legal and Regulatory Issues

Incorrect translations can have legal implications, especially involving contracts, terms and conditions, or compliance-related documents. Misinterpretations could lead to breaches of contract, regulatory penalties, or even legal disputes. Ensuring that all legal documents are translated correctly is crucial to avoid potential legal ramifications.

Market Penetration

Entering a new market requires a deep understanding of local culture and language. Poor translation can be a barrier to entry, making it difficult to connect with potential customers. Effective translation, on the other hand, can help you resonate with your target audience and facilitate smoother market penetration, ultimately driving growth and success.

SEO and Digital Presence

Your online presence is an essential part of your international strategy. Bad translations on your website can negatively affect your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Search engines favor unique and relevant content, and poorly translated content can lower your search rankings, reducing visibility and reach.

To ensure that you and your customers reap all the benefits of quality translations, there is a proven process to ensure you get the best translations possible.

A Proven Three Step Process for Ensuring High Quality Translations

Step 1: Establish Clear Evaluation Criteria for Translation Evaluation

Before assessing translation quality, defining what “quality” means for your organization is important. Just as you create brand standards you may also want to clearly articulate translation quality standards for your team or any translation tools or linguists you work with. Here are some key criteria to consider:

• Accuracy: Does the translation accurately convey the original message?
• Clarity: Is the translation easy to understand for the target audience?
• Consistency: Are terminologies and style consistent throughout the document?
• Cultural Relevance: Is the translation appropriate for the cultural context of the target market?

Once you’ve established these criteria, ensure that your translators and reviewers align with them. This alignment will serve as the foundation for effective translation evaluation.

Step 2: Implement a Translation Quality Test

After setting clear criteria, the next step is to conduct a translation quality test. This involves a systematic review process where translations are assessed against the established criteria. Here’s how to conduct a comprehensive translation quality test:

• Peer Review: Have a second translator or bilingual team member review the translation for errors and inconsistencies. This additional layer of scrutiny helps identify potential issues that may have been overlooked.
• Back-Translation: To check for discrepancies, consider translating the content back into the original language. This method can highlight nuances and meanings that might have been lost in translation. Leveraging back-translations can be a highly effective translation assessment test.
• Use of Translation Tools: Leverage translation assessment tools that offer automated checks for grammar, punctuation, and terminology consistency. These tools provide a quick way to identify glaring issues before human review.

Step 3: Continuous Feedback and Improvement

Translation quality assurance doesn’t end with the initial assessment. Continuous feedback and improvement are crucial for maintaining high standards. Here’s how to build a cycle of continuous improvement:

• Feedback Loop: Create a feedback loop where translators receive constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement. Encourage open communication between translators and reviewers.
• Regular Training: Offer training sessions for your translation team to update them on the latest tools, trends, and best practices in translation quality solutions.
• Performance Metrics: Implement metrics to track translation quality over time. This could include the number of errors per document, turnaround time, and customer feedback on translation quality.

By adopting this three-step method for translation evaluation—establishing clear criteria, implementing a quality test, and fostering continuous improvement—customer support teams can ensure the quality of translations remains high. This enhances the customer experience and fortifies your brand’s reputation in international markets.

If you are struggling to get quality translations and find that your tests are resulting in inaccurate results, you can leverage other tools to improve the output.  Here are some options that have been highly effective for companies of all sizes.

Use AI-Powered Translation Tools

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the translation industry. Tools like Google Translate, DeepL, and Microsoft Translator use complex algorithms to provide more context-aware translations than traditional methods. Here’s how you can make the most of them:

• Leverage Machine Learning: These tools learn from vast amounts of data and improve over time. They’re excellent for initial drafts and can handle common phrases and nuanced sentences.
• Check Contextual Accuracy: While AI tools are powerful, they may not always capture nuances or cultural context. Use them as a starting point and refine them manually to ensure cultural relevance.

Employ Translation Management Systems (TMS)

A Translation Management System (TMS) can streamline the workflow for larger projects. Examples include Smartling, MemoQ, and SDL Trados Studio. These systems offer:

• Consistent Terminology: They store glossaries and translation memories, ensuring consistent use of terminology across documents.
• Project Management Features: TMS platforms facilitate collaboration among multiple translators and project managers, providing oversight and tracking progress.

Utilize Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) Tools

Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools like OmegaT, Wordfast, and Memsource focus on aiding human translators by providing:

• Segmented Text: Breaks down large texts into manageable segments, making it easier to focus on translating one part at a time.
• Terminology Management: Helps maintain consistency across different project sections by suggesting previously used terms.

Leverage Cloud-Based Collaboration

Cloud-based solutions allow multiple users to work on a document simultaneously from different locations. Platforms like Google Docs and OneDrive offer real-time collaboration features:

• Simultaneous Editing: Multiple translators can work on the same document, allowing instant feedback and corrections.
• Version Control: Keep track of changes and easily revert to previous versions if needed.

Conduct Quality Assurance with Automated Checkers

After completing a translation, use automated grammar and spell checkers like Grammarly or LanguageTool to catch any errors that may have slipped through:

• Grammar and Style Checks: These tools provide suggestions to enhance readability and ensure proper grammar usage.
• Automated Proofreading: Quickly scan documents for typos and other common mistakes.

Seek Human Proofreading

Despite the advancements in technology, human intuition and understanding are unmatched. Once the translation process is complete, have a fellow bilingual professional proofread the document to ensure:

• Cultural Sensitivity: Humans can detect cultural nuances and adjust the language to suit the audience.
• Tone and Style: Ensure the translation maintains the desired tone and style.

Conclusion

The benefits of translating your content and supporting your customers in their native language can increase brand loyalty, thereby increasing repeat purchases, helping you expand into new markets or customer segments, and reducing customer frustration in getting issues resolved. However, quality is paramount so that you don’t alienate those customers with whom you seek to build a strong connection.

Quality testing is important, and if your current approach fails quality tests, companies like Language I/O can help you improve quality and rapidly expand to support more languages by  enabling true multilingual customer support.