What is Quality?

Translators have different opinions on quality and judge the performance of a colleague by emphasizing different aspects, such as style, respect of the original content, creativity, appropriateness of the terminology, register, etc. All these factors are relevant on defining quality and yet others could be added to this list.

In order to reach client satisfaction, Rio Translations has defined quality in the following manner:

Quality is conformance to client’s specifications

Aside from quality standards, Rio Translations expects translators to provide (outlined in style guides, glossaries and other linguistic instructions) the deciding factor on determining a translation’s quality meets the client expectations. Should the translation not meet client’s specifications and expectations, final quality is not achieved. The client’s feedback will most likely show this.

How to Achieve Quality?

In addition to the usual requirements to be met when delivering a translation work to Rio Translations (no spelling mistakes, perfect grammar, no omissions, no meaning errors, adequate terminology, consistency, adherence to the glossary and style guide), translators should follow the steps below in order to ensure quality:

Read instructions carefully

Instructions about the project will be sent by the Project Manager, the Translation Manager and/or the Localization Engineer involved in the project. Upon receipt of an email from one of the project team members, read it carefully and follow the instructions closely.

Ask questions prior to project commencement

Should the instructions provided or Rio Translations’s expectations be unclear, please contact the Project Manager, via phone or email, as soon as possible. Early communication can prevent problems.

Follow Rio Translations established process

Translators should follow the process laid out in this document. If the Project Manager requests the creation of a master glossary or style guide, follow the process designed for such phases of production. Non-adherence to guidelines could have serious consequences on a project.

Communication during TEP

In spite of the linguistic analysis performed prior to project commencement, translators will raise several questions during the TEP phase. Rio Translations has established a query log system which vendors should use to report all important queries in order to get feedback from Rio Translations and/or the client. This tool is designed to avoid quality problems and should be used appropriately. Please refer to the query log section in this program for further details.

Quality does not end with delivery

Usually, clients review the translations supplied and provide feedback. This feedback may request changes due client stylistic preference, changes to original content, inappropriate terminology not existent in glossary, etc.

Rio Translations will request the translators who worked on the project to incorporate such changes on the RTF files. Translators are encouraged to create a translator’s note document, where comments to changes requested by client can be added.

Translators should face client feedbacks as a means to learn more about the client’s specifications and preferences.