Quality Management of Multilingual Translation Using Tools ~ What are the Points to Check? ~

How should multilingual translation quality be checked?

"I want to perform multilingual translations other than English. I'm worried about leaving it to translators, but at the same time, how can I check the quality if I'm not a native speaker?"

"Even if you ask a translation company, not all staff members understand every language. What can they check for you?"

Many of the responsible persons who are handling multilingual translation may have such concerns.

If you are asked to check the delivered translation and you don't even understand the language... or if the translation company says they are "checking internally", are they really doing it? For those who have doubts, please refer to this article.

Table of Contents

Points that can be checked even by non-native speakers
Quality check points for multilingual translation that can be detected by tools
■Style (Quotation marks, numbers or alphanumeric characters, units, etc.)
Setting Check Items
■ Terminology (proper nouns, UI, technical terms, etc.)
■Inconsistency (The original text is the same, but the translated text is different)
■Spell Check
Summary

Points that can be checked even by non-native speakers

Of course, there are parts that should be left to the translator's judgement, such as fluency and subtle nuances, but there are also many points that can be confirmed by non-native speakers.

For example, this includes checking if the types of symbols, such as quotation marks, are correct, and if the numbers are consistent between the original and translated text.

Please refer to the following diagram.

This is a comparison of the types of symbols that should be used for quotation marks in each language. Even just looking at a few languages, there are significant differences.

Even if it is not related to the meaning, it is a point that can cause discomfort as a document in that language if it is incorrect.

In this regard, even if you don't understand the language, you can check it as long as you know the correct answer.

However, no matter how much we want to improve the quality, the time available for checking is limited.

Some may give up thinking that it takes too much time to visually check all of these.

In fact, the points mentioned above can be checked quickly and without any omissions using a tool.

In this article, we will introduce two ways to check using tools that even non-native speakers can use without leaking information.

This time, we would like to introduce our check points.

Quality check points for multilingual translation that can be detected by tools

The points that can be checked with the tool can be broadly divided into the following:

■Style (Quotation marks, numbers or alphanumeric characters, units, etc.)

■ Terminology (proper nouns, UI, technical terms, etc.)

■Inconsistency (Different translations for the same original text)

■Spell Check

We will introduce each one briefly.

■Style (Quotation marks, numbers or alphanumeric characters, units, etc.)

There are many styles that can be checked with tools.

The following are the 8 main points.

①Quotation marks

Example:
English "Sample"
French "Sample"
German "Sample"

You can check if the quotation marks are correct for each language.

Depending on the language, there can be significant differences, so if it is incorrect, it will create a sense of discomfort as a document in that language.

②Unit and space before and after unit
Example:
50%
100 m
You can check if the spacing between the unit and number is correct.

③Number

You can check if the numbers match between the original and translated text.

It is especially important to check for numerical errors in manuals, as they can be fatal.

4-digit format

Example: Thousands Separator
English 1,000　Use comma
French 1 000　Use half-width space

You can check if the format of the digit separator is correct for each language.

Be sure to check for decimal points and digit separators in reverse order depending on the language.

⑤ English

You can check if the English letters used in the original text are accurately translated in the translated text when the original text is in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean.

This is useful for checking product codes and model numbers that combine numbers and alphabets.

⑥Presence and type of punctuation marks

You can check if the periods and question marks match between the original text and the translated text.

Unnecessary Spaces

You can check for unnecessary spaces.

⑧Differentiating Between Hyphens and Dashes

You can check if the use of hyphens and dashes is correct.

This is a particularly difficult item to check visually.

In addition, you can also add or remove optional check items according to the characteristics of the translation target.

Setting Check Items

It may be helpful to refer to publicly available language style guides when constructing checklists. For example, Microsoft has published a large number of language style guides, called "Localization Style Guides" (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/language/styleguides).

For example, when reading a French style guide, it includes the following content:

Hyphen and Dash Usage

- Hyphens are used to separate syllables in words and to connect parts of compound words.
- En dashes are used as a minus sign or to indicate a range of numbers.
- Em dashes are used to separate or insert independent elements within a sentence. However, in French, it is often better to replace dashes with commas, colons, or parentheses, even in sentences where dashes are used in English.

Handling of Other Symbols

・In English, semicolons are often replaced with commas in French.

・Use non-breaking spaces between quotation marks (gyume) and quoted text.

・Punctuation marks that are not included in the quotation should always be placed outside the quotation marks (while in English, this is not always strict).

・Use non-breaking spaces before specific symbols (: ; ! : ?).

From these materials, you can get clues on what to check in the target language. It will also become clear what points to pay attention to during the check.

For example, when checking a translation tool from English to French, it is important to keep in mind that there may be differences in punctuation and spacing between the original text and the translated text.

Microsoft Corporation also explains the formats for numbers and dates in several languages in the "Regional setting and formats" section of their "Globalization documentation" (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/). This can also be a useful reference.

■ Terminology (proper nouns, UI, technical terms, etc.)

Checks whether the terms specified in the prepared glossary are used in the translated text, and performs a mechanical check.

This is a mechanism that loads a glossary into a tool and checks whether the corresponding translation is used when a term registered in the glossary appears in the original text.

UI and proper nouns must be translated consistently. If the wording in the manual and the actual button are different, users will be confused.

Specialized terminology should generally use the same translation, right?

However, even if you know that the terminology may be "incorrect", it can be difficult to accurately correct it if you do not understand the language.

Depending on the language, you may need to change the surrounding text or even inflect the terminology itself when simply replacing it with a glossary entry.

In that case, it will be necessary to confirm with the translator.

Cannot create glossary!

If you are unable to prepare a glossary in the first place, you can refer to the glossaries published on the web. For example, for European languages, there is a glossary for European languages called IATE (Interactive Terminology for Europe) (https://iate.europa.eu/home).

This is a glossary used by public institutions such as the European Parliament.

In addition, we also offer terminology creation services alongside translation, so please feel free to consult with us.

■Inconsistency (The original text is the same, but the translated text is different)

Check to see if the same sentence appears multiple times in the original text and make sure it is not translated into a different expression.

Of course, we will not modify the translation expression intentionally if necessary.

■Spell Check

This is a spell check.

Spell check for multiple languages is available with CAT tools.

(*CAT tool = Computer-Assisted Translation tool. Translation support tool.)

Summary

In this blog, we introduced the perspective of checking multilingual translation tools.

By understanding language rules and conducting tool checks, even non-native speakers can perform quality management for multiple languages from a formal perspective.

In the next blog post, we will introduce the specific examples of how to check each of the check points that we introduced this time.