Quality management

• 1

  Review the quality requirements for the project and assess current quality levels

• 2

  Create and update any linguistic support material

• 3

  Design and create the unique quality control tools

• 4

  Execute the work

• 5

  Learn from the results

The problems with assumptions

In our experience one of the biggest problems for both suppliers and customers in the Localisation industry is the assumption of quality. Firms place work with translators and LSP’s(language service providers) and expect quality to be a given. Sadly in an industry that is unregulated (anyone can call themselves a ‘translator’ and provide ‘translation services’), this isn’t always the case. Suppliers of language services can make assumptions to. They assume that they know what quality means to the end user without ever asking. The end result might not be a bad translation in terms of spelling and grammar but it could fail in achieving its objective such as making a sale, marketing a product, explaining a process or engaging with the reader.

Our approach to quality

Every client has different objectives and every Localisation and translation project is unique. Although how we manage projects is important, understanding how the project outputs will be used and how what we deliver will be scrutinized is the central focus to how we provide our services.

The quality process

We believe in establishing objectives at the start of the project, measuring the outputs to ensure they meet these objectives before each delivery stage and then learning from the experience once the project has been closed. Some of the tools that enable us to do this include client brief documents, detailed work package documentation for our translation and Localisation teams, adapted quality control techniques (using establishing methods such as LISA QA or SAE J2450 and then tailoring to fit the requirements of the project) and in-house learning logs.

We are a learning organisation

We love learning. We see every project we work on and every client we work with as an opportunity to increase our knowledge of managing and providing our services. We document and report on our lessons so we can continually improve on our offering.

We believe quality should be front loaded

We think quality should start as far upstream as possible. Translation and Localisation processes are a linear process and typically can involve individuals (translators > editor> proof-reader>layout designer etc) all undertaking unique and separate tasks. Quite often Localisation projects leave quality reviewing until the very end of the project. We believe this approach wastes time and can add to the overall cost of the project. Our approach is to make sure quality is inbuilt at the start of the project and then reviewed at every stage.