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Re: How do you ensure the quality of translations?
Subject:Re: How do you ensure the quality of translations? From:Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> Date:Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:51:00 -0400
Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> You will also have the potential issue of errors in the reverse
> translation causing "false positives."
>
> The most consistent and reliable method I can think of is to have both
> your native language original and the translated version reviewed by a
> bilingual technical SME who will be able to tell you if your translation
> says something different from your original. And yes, if you're
> translating into multiple languages, you'll need a reviewer for each.
Sometimes that is not enough. Both Spanish and English have major issues
of localization. While technical folks can usually deal quite happily
with tyres, kerbs and colours vs tires, curbs and colors, translation of
marketing materials must be checked by a team local to the target area.
A US banking company was trying to produce a single branding and ad
campaign that would work throughout all of Spanish-speaking America.
They nearly had it approved until at the last minute the team from
Panama reported that the wording looked stupidly wrong to Panamanians.
There are at least 25 different versions of written Spanish, if you look
carefully.
As with English, native speakers of any language can easily be unaware
of unusual local usage. Who would know, for example, that in North
Carolina one says "ink pen" and "stick pin" (and occasionally writes
that way) to distinguish between the two words pen and pin that some
North Carolinians pronounce identically?
How many native English speakers know all the regional meanings of the
word Yankee? Here's the version I've heard: Outside the US, a Yankee is
an American. In the southern US it's someone from the north. In the
north, someone from New England. In New England, someone from Vermont,
and in Vermont it's someone who eats pie for breakfast.
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