The Post-Translation Review Process: Your translated materials are kind of like our children…

Author and activist bell hooks once wrote, “Segregation simplifies; integration requires that we come to terms with multiple ways of knowing, of interaction.”

On a practical level, languages involve many ways of knowing—they are subjective, to say the least. That type of subjectivity requires countless levels of integration.

For example, TLC welcomes integration through client feedback. TLC understands that revisions are often part of that feedback, even after we complete a project. But TLC also advocates for language integrity, which often requires that we proactively communicate manners in which we can meet your business-specific needs while cultivating our languages’ beauty.

Before we outline those approaches, please know this:

–          We always provide human reviewers who are either fluent- or native-level speakers in our target languages.

–          All of these reviewers are not only fluent or native speakers, but are also trained, certified or have formal education in their respective language.

–          Our translators, proofreaders and editors are specifically selected based on their expertise and experience with your business’ specific vocabulary. Some of them are either retired members of your field or currently work in your field.

–          Our project managers are committed to meet your expressed cultural and population needs before proceeding with your project requests. Cultural competency and cultural communication styles are often the difference between an adequate translation and one that genuinely benefits the populations you serve.

–          As an ISO 9001:2008-certified business, we have a loving relationship with established formal translation strategies which we use in every project.

After all, we’re all in this together. We may translate your materials, but your business will actually be using and distributing them—sometimes to dozens, hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of partners all over the nation or world.

So basically, your translated materials are kind of like our children. Before you “drop them off at revision school,” we ask that you agree to:

–          “Call us” ahead of time: Before you use our translation services, please let us know that you intend to use an internal review process after we have returned. This proactivity will allow us to allot time for prospective post-translation revisions.

–          Give them a “nametag”: Please submit revision requests with track changes, proofreading marks or clearly-visible, text-editable comments. We want to ensure that we are able to
1) clearly identify your areas of concern and 2) integrate revisions contextually.

–          Specify their “diet restrictions”: We will be sure to clarify and confirm the exact revision you are requesting before we proceed.

–          Tell us about their “sign-in and sign-out” person: If you do choose to institute your own review process, we suggest that you limit it to one linguist, native speaker or person of similar qualification. By allowing multiple reviewers post-translation, one could run the risk of sending conflicting revision requests.

–          Know that we will take good care of them: Revisions we complete post-translation will be free-of-charge, as long as they are congruent with any cultural, population-related, industry-specific and/or technical guidelines established or agreed upon prior to the translation, editing, proofreading and quality assurance processes.

In the end, we understand why many clients choose a post-translation review process. Many of our clients fall under oft-criticized and questioned industries—health care, pharmaceuticals, national security, manufacturing and food service, just to name a few. These industries must dot every “I” and cross every “T,” especially in the translation process.

And we have resources that, when used early and often, can ensure quality, detail-oriented, accurate translation services. These resources include glossaries, term bases, work flows, document analysis software and more.

So let’s integrate. We can certainly find unity by collectively understanding each other’s industry differences. For us, that starts when we can get a feel for your business’ internal review process.