Are you a translator tired of taking unpaid tests scored by unqualified evaluators? Or are you a vendor manager, struggling to evaluate translations for languages you don’t speak?
Translation testing is tricky. Translation is at once both subjective and objective: there is enough room for creativity to make evaluation a fraught endeavor, but there are objective quality issues that still must be screened.
The Woes of Translation Quality Control
Quality control in translation is incredibly difficult, because translations can be very subjective. Beyond the more recognizable errors in meaning, a translation may suffer from misunderstandings of the source text, lack of native fluency in the target language, or even just bad writing!
And we cannot forget that one of the most important tasks at which a translator must excel is research: a good translator makes use of the internet to carefully research all terms and proper names to ensure that every acronym is properly translated according to its existing translation, that every name is transliterated as per the standard, and that all terms are correct and appropriate for the given context.
Native fluency can be particularly difficult to ascertain based on CVs alone, especially in today’s globalized world, but becomes very clear when reading a finished translation. A non-native translator runs the risk of introducing awkward, ambiguous, or even incorrect sentences into a translation, affecting your brand’s perception or reputation.
For some issues that arose in evaluating Deborah Smith’s translation of “The Vegetarian”, click here
Yet currently, there is a dearth of good translation testing materials. While associations like the ATA offer a rigorous and reliable certification procedure, it is a long process, a financial investment, and currently only offered in limited locations within the US and abroad. While we highly recommend that freelancers consider ATA certification, this is not a viable option for LSP’s looking to quickly test freelancers for an upcoming job, or for translators new to the industry who cannot yet meet ATA’s prerequisite’s for certification or attend one of their onsite tests.
The industry standard is currently to send a short text to a translator for translation, and then to have that translation evaluated by another more senior translator, however this solution is rife with problems:
1) the senior translator is not incentivized to return a positive evaluation, as this could lead to less work for the senior translator (if you are a translator, you know the pain of seeing our translation torn to shreds by an incompetent or not so well-meaning editor!)
2) these evaluations are usually paid as a flat or hourly rate, and are carried out remotely, which means the LSP has no way to ascertain how much attention was actually paid to the evaluation versus how much they will end up paying the evaluator for their time
3) the evaluation necessarily relies on the ability of the senior translator, who in some cases, has not been properly vetted him or herself!
The Meridian Linguistics Translation Testing Solution:
We have designed a series of tests that focus on the key abilities a translator must have, while minimizing the subjective portions, for a test that is more efficiently graded in terms of both time and money, and that is more reliable and nuanced in terms of the results returned. If the translator does not pass the first “objective” section, easily scored by answer key, the more subjective translation portion is not scored. This saves time and money for all involved. Furthermore, when our evaluators spot surprising discrepancies between the objective and subjective scores on the test, this can serve as a warning to check our evaluator’s criteria: he or she may be scoring a bit more aggressively than we would like.
Our test evaluates the key abilities of a translator both separately and holistically:
1) Comprehension Ability for Source Language
2) Native Fluency for Target Language
3) Writing Ability in Target Language
4) Research Ability in Target Language
5) Translation Ability (of a very short text, compared to tests in which this is the only ability tested)
Results:
As a vendor manager or hiring manager, you can see where your translator’s strengths lie. In some cases you may be fine with a highly accurate translator whose writing skills are less than stellar, because you have in-house editors or because you are working with a hard-to-find language pair. Or, you may be interested in onboarding a translator that comes with wonderful references but has only ever worked in-house for a single industry, and you want to make sure the translator has the research skills to handle a variety of topics. Either way, the results of the test will break down the translator’s individual abilities as well as well as their ability to pull them altogether and deliver a high-quality translation.
Purchase a test here!
Frequently Asked Questions:
1) What is the subject matter appearing on these texts?
We are starting with general subject matter only (subject matter may range from politics to geography to pop culture) but we will later be offering tests in the legal, technical, financial, and literary realms. [EDIT: we now offer legal tests as well.]
2) Who designs the tests?
Teams of at least a dozen trusted linguists per language pair, who themselves hold certifications from the American Translator’s Association or other similar institutions in their home countries, have developed the content and taken the tests themselves until we are satisfied with the level of difficulty, ease of following instructions, ease of scoring, and reliability of the test.
3) What language pairs do you offer?
In keeping with demand, we began with Spanish to English, French to English, Chinese to English (Simplified and Traditional), Portuguese to English, English to Hindi, English to Spanish, English to Arabic, English to Farsi, English to Pashto, and English to Czech. We have also recently launched Spanish to English Legal Translation tests.
We will soon begin to offer more language pairs. Please let us know if there is a language pair you would like to order that is not on this list, and we will let you know when you can expect it!
Check out our translation tests here.
Awesome, having a remote test that includes searching and comprehensive ability, it seems nice at all especially the point of saving time by passing the first ‘objective’ section, I think this order of measuring abilities make the test more reliable and effective, But I have two inquires:
First: is there any possibility to make the final score be shareable through LinkedIn profiles, CVs etc.
second: for ‘native fluency’ and ‘translation ability’ sections I think that they are both need not only a senior evaluator, but is quite necessary to be a native one of the target language to be able to determine the most relative and appropriate style that should be used properly.
Thanks and wish you best luck.
Well, I am pretty sure that online downloadable translation tests will become very popular. I received my TESOL cert. this way, but couldn’t find anything similar for translation.
We live in the 21st century and people complete their MAs and PhDs online, so why not this type of professional qualification? It is high time. I would certainly like to see my language pair offered. Current solutions that are offered in my country are very inconvenient and just don’t take into account the modern pace of life – people are busy, working, and don’t have the time to attend a year-long seminar or testing centers at different locations. Really hope you will add more Slavic languages soon!