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Translator’s Price and Training:

Quality Indicators ?

Giselle Sanchez

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Translation: an unregulated profession

Anyone can become a translator

Graduates, any level Inexperienced bilingualsFrom 20-year olds to retired workers

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Choosing a free lance translator

Obvious selection criteria:• Formal training in translation• Extensive experience

An indirect criterion:• Price

Thus, we expect a correlation between:• Qualification / quality• Qualification / price• Quality / price

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Translation Test

SampleUnsolicited applications received by Media

Langues in 2007-2008178 translators solicited

• 23 refused test (13%)• 82 did not return test (46%)• 73 returned test (41%)

FR>EN EN>FR

37 translators 36 translators

(U.K., France) (France, Belgium)

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Translator Background

EducationTranslation: 27Humanities and business: 29 (law, literature...)Sciences: 6 (medicine, engineering, sciences)

All freelancers

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Translation Quality Assesment

A research field with no consensus yet

Dominated by complex, multi-criteria measures

• SAE J2450 (wrong usage of glossary, syntactic error, omission, word structure, misspelling… 7 criteria)

• ATA’s certification exam (legibility, misunder-standing, mistranslation, omissions/additions, terminology, style... 22 criteria)

• SICAL scale/Gouadec studies: 675 error types (300 lexical, 375 syntactic)

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Usability in the translation industry

These tests are good for academic purposes or in specific QC situations

As a business, we need a practical means to screen a large number of translators

Excludes qualitative evaluations or time-consuming metrics

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Terminology-based assesment

Our assumption: the most discriminating translation quality criteria is terminology

Objective (unlike style)Critical and ubiquitous (technical, legal, business)On the difficulty scale, terminology is higher than

any other objective criteria such as spelling, grammar, omissions, typography…

A bad terminology can’t be proofreadMost often good terminology comes with good

grammar, style, etc. The reverse is not true.

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Test details.1

~18 terminology control points in each text

Error scoringWrong sense = -3 points Inacurate, but can be understood = -2 pointsCorrect but unusual = -1 points

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Examples

FR EN ERR

Produit bio Bio product -3

Sèche serviette électrique

Electric towel dryer -2

Écran de connexion Connection screen -1

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Test Details.2

5 tests of ~300 words eachTechnical, medical, legal, financial, generalNo time limit

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Caveats

Small sample size Sample not including fully-booked

translators Self-excluded translators: did not return or

refused test Possible differences between test levels Uncontrolled test conditions

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Prices

Average:0,088€ / source word (0,077€ / target word)

(Average price of translators who declined test: 0,091€ / source word)

Average:0,086€ / source word

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Score Distribution

100% of terms are -2 errors

15% of terms are -2 errors

30% of terms are -2 errors

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Score vs. Price

Price (€/ source word)

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Score vs. Age and Experience

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Scores vs. Education

77

82

66

Translation

Sciences

Humanities

T-test Humanities/ Translation : P = 0,05

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Price vs. Education

Translation

Sciences

Humanities0,083

0,094

0,088

T-test Humanities/ Translation : P = 0,29

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Hiring Criteria

Criterion <0,07€ 0,07-0,08€

0,08-0,09€

>0,09€ Transla-tion studies

Other studies

Score >70

23% 57% 75% 85% 78% 60%

Score >80

15% 30% 63% 44% 41% 34%

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85% of translators < 0.7€

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Conclusions

Translation studies do not guarantee high quality, but are a positive factor.

For companies, low rates should be a warning sign, but high rates do not guarantee high quality.

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Perspectives

Compare translation diplomas

Develop standard terminology-based tests

Direct measure Practical

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Acknowledgements

Aurélie Devynck, Master TSM (Traduction Spécialisée Multilingue), Université Lille 3