Quality Assurance

Success in the translation business can be ensured only by providing high-quality translations that satisfy a performance-conscious clientele. Therefore, a systematic approach to translation quality is a key element in our business philosophy. Beyond personal commitment of our team members and our linguists’ ongoing efforts to ensure the highest-quality translation, we use the following means to prevent errors in our overall process:

1. Translator selection and evaluation

We know our strengths and specialties. That’s enabled us to stand out as a leading Middle Eastern translation team in the industry. We have recruited professional Middle Eastern linguists online and through other networking channels. While there are many Arabic, Farsi, Dari translators to be found via Internet translator portals, the fast-paced translation market makes it difficult to identify the most fully qualified linguists for each project from this large pool of professionals. Most of our current team members belong to communities that cannot be found online. Up to 70 percent of their work is commissioned from projects that we manage.

Most of our team translators have lived in English-speaking metropolitan cities in the US, UK, Canada and/or Australia.
We have access to a wide range of translators trained in specialized subjects and industries in instances where larger projects require additional support.
Each of our team translators have a minimum of three years of experience or has translated a minimum of 100,000 words within the past two or three years.
Most of the team translators hold a university degree in translation or interpretation and/or a university degree in the specialty field they are working in.
A team translator assigned to your project will be recognized as an expert in the relevant specialty subject, such as medical, marketing, legal or information technology.
To ensure consistent quality, we continuously monitor translation quality and evaluate our team on a bimonthly basis. Each team translator must maintain a rating of at least 7.5 out of 10 in order to be considered for future projects.

2. Project management and team assistants

Our team of assistants are well-versed in various Middle Eastern languages in addition to English.

Our assistants are friendly, good communicators, and detail-oriented.
Our assistants make client satisfaction a priority and are aware of the team’s high standards for quality.

3.Translation process

When a translation project is assigned to our team, we ensure all the necessary steps are taken to deliver the completed work with the highest quality possible. Below is a list of the steps that take place from the moment your translation project is received to the hour when it is delivered to you in its final form:

Our team assistants receive the request from the client and respond to let them know it was received. They will also communicate to make sure every aspect of the project and any special instructions are clear. If there are any ambiguities, the project coordinator will seek clarification before proceeding and assigning the project to one or more translators.
The team assistant evaluates the project in terms of scope, objectives, day-to-day schedule, deadline, audience and client expectations.
Using our cloud based proprietary translation/translator management portal, the best team for each specific translation/language project can be assembled.
If the project is too large for a single linguist, a team will be established by the assistants. To ensure consistency and cost-effectiveness, the client’s preferred CAT tool such as SDL Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast or Across will be used.
When the translation phase is completed, the project is assigned to our experienced editors and proofreaders.
During the final phase, the project coordinator ensures all the steps of the project have been have been completed. After our in-house Quality Assurance (QA) check, the project is delivered to the client.
Language Identification. In some instances, clients may have documents they want translated, but are not able to identify the language in which the document was written. Without any additional cost to the client, our knowledgeable project managers quickly identify the source language and then recommend the necessary steps to take the project to completion.

4.Technology

Our team stays abreast of changes in the translation industry, using the most recent version of all the popular CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools and localization software including Trados, Wordfast, Deja vu, Alchemy Catalyst, Passolo, SDLX Lite, OLT, MemoQ, MetaTexis and other cutting-edge technologies.

Technology is part of a quality-focused process:

Translation Memory (TM): The use of translation memory tools in our translation process ensures customer satisfaction and reasonable pricing:

The client receives a consistent translation, which is particularly important for large projects. If they decide to update the project later, even if we use a different translator most of the terminologies will be consistent.
For each language combination, subject matter and field, we develop a specific TM.
Translation memories ensure the consistency of technical vocabulary and ultimately the development of glossaries.
The client does not have to pay for the terms that are repeated! This makes the translation of large projects more cost-efficient.
Consistency of Translation and Formatting:
- We use quality assurance add-ons embedded in CAT tools to take another measure to get us closer to a better quality translation for Middle Eastern languages. These add-ons check for tiny details which might have inadvertently been missed by the translators. Trivial but important issues include numbering, symbols and punctuation, which are then reported to the client for confirmation.
- Keeping a consistent work in terms of word choice for the special terminology of each field and text type will become more reliable when a glossary is made by our platform and the CAT tools that are used. Our platform allows centralized storage of all clients’ translations, which are instantly available to project managers and translators. The platform serves as an integrated interface for project management and translation resource systems, thus ensuring timely turnaround and minimizing cost.

5.Review Process

Our translators are expected to review and proofread their work prior to submittal to the independent reviewer. CAT tools also help them, to manage their work in segments and get feedback of potential errors from such software.

6.Proofreading

Every one of our standard translations is proofread by one of our team professional editors after it is checked by the linguist. The proofreader confirms the following:

Language Standard: Grammar, orthography, country standards
Fluency/Readability: Tone of translation appropriate to the target audience, smooth and natural flow of the target text as if written in that language rather than translated into that language
Terminology Compliance: Based on reference materials such as style guides, glossaries, industry standard terminology, client reference materials, etc.

7. Rating the translations

Each translation project will receive a quantitative score by the editors of the project. This score is then communicated to the main linguist(s) of the project so that they can continue with the same level of standard in the quality or be more careful with future projects. If a linguist receives repeated low ratings by the editors, our team will investigate the issue. This rating system helps our team maintain the highest standard of quality. Certainly, we’re aware of human error, which can pervade any project that isn’t quality-checked. Our process, however, minimizes the occurrence of errors and encourages a maximum effort by the entire team.

Sample translation: Finally, to ensure our clients of the quality of the work they can expect, Kaluts offers a free sample of 200-300 words for any project exceeding 4,000 words.