Thorough Management System for Translators

Human science translators are experts in their respective fields who have passed a unique translation trial (test). The pass rate for trials in Japanese translation and localization is a narrow gate at approximately 8 percent.

Additionally, when assigning translators to a project, we carefully listen to the client's work and quality requirements in advance, and based on our extensive data and know-how accumulated over the years, we meticulously select the most suitable translator.

Even if it is a similar field,

• Whether the translation target is a "manual", a "catalog", or a "technical document"
• Whether the target audience is "general users" or "technicians"
• What our customers seek is either a 'natural translation' or a 'literal translation'.

This is because the translators to be selected vary depending on factors such as.

Translator Recruitment and Management
Process

At Human Science, we implement a consistent process for the recruitment of translators and their management within projects.

Trial Procedure

• 1. The trial will be conducted using original problem statements from Human Science. Although it is a small translation test consisting of a few hundred words, we take the time to carefully craft the questions in order to assess the translator's abilities. Additionally, to ensure that the translator's knowledge is up-to-date, we regularly change the problem statements.
  Trial Categories: "IT", "Marketing", "Business Documents", "Contract Documents", "Video"


• 2. The internal team of technical reviewers and linguistic reviewers checks the items and perspectives in the same way as regular translation projects, and the acceptance is determined based on the deliberation of the review team (pass rate: 8%).
  >> Quality Control 3 (Full review by dedicated reviewers and use of check tools)


• 3. We have compiled the trial scores, trends, and areas of expertise of registered translators into a database.

Evaluation Criteria During Trial

5 Trial Evaluation Items

①Translation Quality	・Check for any mistranslations ・Are there any unnatural expressions used? - Are appropriate styles and terms being used?
②Notation	・Check for spelling mistakes and translation omissions ・Check for the absence of double-byte characters and double spaces ・Is the value correct? - Whether the specified terms are used ・Are the correct symbols (quotation marks, parentheses, etc.) used? ・Check for spelling mistakes and translation omissions
③Specialized Knowledge	Do you have background knowledge in the trial target field?
④ Responsiveness	・Is communication via email and other means appropriate? ・Check for any missing delivery data or submitted materials ・Is there any communication regarding unclear points or areas where exception handling was performed?
⑤Project Achievements	Do you have sufficient translation experience?

Project Start

• ① Confirm work requirements and quality requirements with the client
• ②Select translators that match the following elements from the database
  Area of expertise
  Work experience
  
• ③ Assign projects to translators with high past evaluations
  ※ Based on past performance, translators are managed using a four-tier evaluation system: "Rank AA", "A", "B", and "No Evaluation".

Project Completion

• ① Summarize error detection status and customer requests, and provide feedback to the translator
• ②Register the error detection status in the online translator database and accumulate it as shared information

Information Management

Regarding the management of confidential information (ISMS, training, access control, security room), please see here

Glossary and Style Guide for Achieving High Quality

A major factor that influences the quality of translation is the consistency of terminology and style. No matter how beautifully the translation is rendered, if the terminology and style are inconsistent, the intent of the text may not be conveyed correctly, leading to misunderstandings and various issues.
Especially when translating large volumes of documents, it is common to divide the work among multiple translators, so it is important to maintain consistency in terminology and style throughout the entire project.

At Human Science, we review the source documents before translation as needed, thoroughly identifying the terms and styles that should be standardized, and create a glossary and style guide.

What is a glossary?

This is a list of terms used for translation. By creating a glossary that defines consistent translations for product names and technical terms before translation, you can ensure that consistent terminology is used throughout the document.

(For example) Without a glossary, the translations will be inconsistent, leading to confusion.

In particular, when translating a substantial amount of text with multiple translators, without a glossary, the terms used may differ among translators, leading to inconsistencies in terminology.
At Human Science, we identify the terms that need to be standardized before translation and create a glossary to prevent inconsistencies and errors in the translated terms.
If you have specific terms you would like us to use, please provide them before translation, and we will include those terms in the glossary for the translation.

Examples of items to include in the glossary

• ●Provided Glossary (terms with specified translations such as parts, company names, product names, function names, etc.)
• ●Terms not included in the provided glossary
  ・Terms related to newly implemented features and technologies
  ・Text that does not require translation (such as file extensions and program code)
• ●Verb
• ●Unit Symbol
• ●Other Frequently Used Terms
• etc.

What is a Style Guide?

This is a list of rules regarding the style (expressions, notation, grammar, etc.) to be used in translation.
Similar to a glossary, establishing rules for style before translation allows for consistency throughout the document, thereby improving translation quality.

(For example) Without a style guide, the notation and expressions will become inconsistent.

At Human Science, we create style guides for each client and project before translation, providing our customers with consistent, high-quality translations throughout the document. Since the representation of symbols and numbers varies by language, we create style guides according to the rules of each language.

Content to Include in the Style Guide (Example)

• ●Customer-Specified Rules

• ●Rules for Each Language

  - Use of uppercase and lowercase letters

  ・Number format (thousands separator, decimal point)

  - Notation of symbols and signs (quotations, apostrophes, parentheses, etc.)

  - Writing Style

  - Style of warning and caution statements

  Reference Document Style