The difference between a regular translation and a quality translation lies in the structure of the process, the competence of the translator and the extent of quality assurance carried out. Regular translation focuses on transferring content from one language to another, while quality translation ensures that a translation meets high standards of accuracy, consistency and cultural relevance, which are crucial for business communications.
A translator’s competence
Standard translation can be carried out by translators without specialisation, while quality translation requires specialist expertise in the relevant subject area. For financial documents, IFRS experts with at least 10 years of experience in annual report text are required. For technical documents, translators with a technical background are needed. Marketing requires copywriters who can write engagingly in the target language. Specialist expertise ensures that terminology and context are understood correctly.
Quality assurance and validation processes.
Regular translation is often delivered immediately after the translator’s review, while quality translation always applies the four-eyes principle where at least two experts review the material. The first expert translates the text and the second reviews the translation against the original to catch errors or ambiguities. For business-critical documents, a third reviewer or customer validation via an ICR (In Country Review) platform can also be included, ensuring that the translation meets a company’s expectations.
Tools and processes
Quality translation uses professional translation memories that ensure the use of consistent terminology and term bases containing approved translations of company-specific terms. This creates consistency over time and between documents which is impossible to achieve manually. In addition, translation memories make it possible to reduce both delivery time and costs. Fluid Translation is a translation partner with ISO-certified system support. We offer specialist translators in finance, technology, law and other fields, apply the four-eyes principle as standard, use translation memories and term bases and offer an ICR platform for customer validation. Read more about Fluid’s areas of expertise.