Translation India Blog

So what do you do if you did
translation job for rupees 1000 and your bad translation or a mistake cost your
client a whooping sum of rupees 1, 00,000. Wont it the worst of your nightmares
if your client sued you for this amount? Who would be your saviors in such a
situation? Liability insurance or an Error and Omissions insurance might rescue
you from such an adversity.

What is it?

Errors and Omissions is the
insurance that protects you or your company, in a situation where a client
holds you liable for your services, services that did not bring the desired
output or that you failed to provide. For doctors and dentists it is referred
to as malpractice insurance and for professionals such as lawyers, accountants,
engineers or translators it is called professional liability. It might have
many names but it is your only messiah in case of a law suit. To be precise
E&O shields you in case a financial damage has been caused to your client
due to an error or omission on your behalf. An E&O policy covers the
judgment, settlement and defense costs for you, in case of a lawsuit.

How does it work for translators?

 Though there have been almost negligible cases
of companies suing translators for bad translation, some of the translation
companies want their translators to carry liability insurance. Liability
insurance is a company’s attempt to shift the accountability for translation
quality from themselves to the translator. Almost all independent contractor
agreements generally do contain one or more sections stating that the
translator shall be liable for damages or losses that result from incomplete or
inaccurate translations. In reality, translators do end up making mistakes and
such contracts can land them into a tight spot. That is why most translation
companies insist on their translators having E&O insurance and in such a
situation either one has to have it or talk their way out of this requirement.
Sometimes clients do accept the translators as it is, but some pester the translator
to get an insurance before any work starts. Some devious agencies also use
E&O as a trick to raise cash at the expense of the insurance company by
filing useless E&O lawsuits.

E&O insurance can be availed
by companies as well as free lance translators. Since there is no standard
policy for E&O and varies according to the exposure of the company or the
individual hence one can avail them  

Liability Insurance, a protection or bait?

E&O has always been a topic
of great debate on translators’ forums and blogs. A segment of the translators
believe that a liability insurance absolutely unnecessary for a translator as
there have been hardly any cases where a translator has been sued for bad
translation. Even if a translator is

There have been hardly any cases
where in a translator was being sued for bad translation. This is due to
various reasons. Firstly even if the translator is sued, it is very difficult
to prove the accusation as a work of translation is usually scanned by many
people in a well organized translation agency. This would include the editor,
the proof reader and the translator himself. Hence it is a tricky job to prove
that it was the translator’s fault and not the rest of the people involved in
the process. Secondly “good faith, best effort” policy rules between the client
and the translator hence usually the clients do not sue their translators
unless a huge loss has been incurred due to the negligence or incompetence of
the translator. Thirdly since a lawsuit ultimately aims at recovering the
losses and with a little fortune, translators make for a poor prey. Critiques
also think that E&O insurance attracts undue trouble, as it makes you more
likely to be sued. Since a company looks for recovering losses in a lawsuit and
your possession of an E&O makes you more likely for a payout. Hence
translators believe if you take up work that you can handle and proof read your
work then you do not need insurance. Problems usually arise when people use
machines to translate the documents and since machines cannot analyze and make
mistakes, it is important for translators to check their work. If a translator
knows his potential and submits the work on time then insurance is futile and
in fact acts as a bait to attract frivolous lawsuits. Also it is perceived that
an insurance can cost you a fortune and defending it can leave a small company
bankrupt even if the allegations are proved to be baseless.

There is a section of translators
who vouch for E& O insurance. They believe that E&O is your best bet to
avoid any adverse situations or save you in lawsuits. They promote the fact
that having an insurance is advisable and works as a safety measure. Since
translators are humans and are bound to make mistakes in practice hence getting
a liability insurance beforehand is a better option than over estimate yourself
and get entrapped in a lawsuit later. E&O is recommended even more for free
lance translators as in their case, they are whole and soul accountable for any
errors and omissions, unlike an agency where there are several people involved
in translation process and its difficult to accuse one person. Even E& O
supporters believe that it is wise to keep shut about having liability
insurance than invite trouble by telling the world about it!

How to identify a bad translation?

Another reason why law suits
against translators accused for malpractice do not last till the end is because
it is difficult to identify a bad translation. By and large there are no
standards set to identify the quality of a translation work. Organizations,
which pass or fail certification exams, such as ATA, surely have some standards
but only an experienced or a seasoned translator can generally identify a bad
translation. Though having no set standards for quality don’t always give a
free way to a translator. A translator is surely accountable to his client and
sometimes it is easy to identify the negligence on the part of the translator.
Some of the mistakes in a translation are unreasonable and could have been
avoided by running a spell check. On the other hand some issues during a
translation can be quite problematic. One such issue is that of date and
numbers. While translating dates in documents one needs to take special care as
to how a person would read the date in the translated language. Whether 4/3/08
ill be read as 4^th March or 3^rd April in the target
language. Such confusions can cause great loss to the client, especially in
case of legal documents. There have been cases in US where companies took up
translation projects worth thousands of dollars and returned double the sum to
make up for the losses that their negligence cost their clients. There are
times when a work of translation goes through various stages, which include
translation, proof reading and editing, yet it contains some blunders. Hence it
is advisable on the part of the agency as well as freelancer to proof read
their work carefully.

Proof read, prevention is better than cure!

Most translators swear by proof
reading and believe that a careful proof reading of your work is the best
protection against any kind of flaws or troubles in your work. They support
that E&O insurance will help you if you face a law suit whereas a careful
proof reading of your work will prevent you from such a nightmarish situation.
In most agencies different people do proof reading and translations because
proof reading one’s own work is considered to be a tedious job and is useless
if done immediately. Some freelance translators do not proof read their work
thinking the agency would do it. This is however very irresponsible and
ignorant on the part of the translator if he thinks he cannot be held guilty of
any carelessness just because the client has signed an indemnification clause.
In a law suit a translator would be undeniably be held accountable for a
careful proof reading even if he holds an E&O insurance.

Things to keep in mind before getting E&O
insurance

In practice nobody wants to face
a law suit and the key to success for a translator is to keep up the good faith
and keep doing good work. Sometimes even though you may regard it unnecessary,
you need to get E&O insurance for your client’s requirement. Almost all
E&O

 Insurance policies cover defense, judgment as
well as settlement costs. However E&O can cost you a fortune and can
sometimes bankrupt small companies and individuals or leave a lasting
impression on bigger companies. Since there are not set wordings for liability
insurance hence it is always recommended to refer to your attorney before you
deal with liability insurance. It is important to choose the right kind of
policy so that it gives you the right coverage according to your exposure.

In some policies the defense
costs are included within the liability limits, whereas some of the policies
exclude the penalty damages. Hence it is important to read each policy
carefully and be convinced that the protection being offered fits your
exposures.

Evolution of Advertising Localization

With
the evolution and growth of ‘Globalization’, multinationals need to advertise
their products and services throughout the globe for the customers who not only
have different tastes and preferences but also speak different languages and
have different cultural values and ethics. Consequently, a new type of
translation was evolved which was targeted towards translating advertisements
(both written and audiovisual). This type of translation was named Advertising
Localization.

Good
and strategic advertising is the key to success for any business. Thus, it is
important that every targeted group of customers find it captivating,
understandable and non-offensive with respect to their culture, ethics, values
and beliefs. However, this is not an easy task to perform. Localization of an
advertisement needs in-depth research and intellectual decision making. For
this purpose, professional translators are consulted who have expertise in
localizing the advertisements. These translators are different form other types
of translators due to the difference in the nature of their work.

Some
people argue that translation has nothing to do with the advertisements but
this theory has been proved wrong. Advertising is a mode of communication
through media, and translation is done to for communication purpose only. If
the advertisements are not translated the company will straightaway loose a
large share of potential customers.

One
single advertisement or promotional video is translated into different
languages and sometimes the style of presentation is also changed to give it a
local look. For example; Telebrands broadcasts its advertisements all over the
world in different languages. In India this company broadcast its
promotional videos in Hindi language. However in its each and every
advertisement, the company also shows all those telephone numbers which can be
used to order their product from different geographical regions.

Challenges in localizing an advertisement

The
main challenge which the translator faces during advertising localization is the
dubbing of the original advertisements into the target language and matching
the lip movement of the anchors according to it. He is expected to give overall
a natural look and finish to the advertisements so that the consumers not only
understand it but also enjoy it as they enjoy watching their native
advertisements.

Apart
from this there are lots of factors which have to be kept in mind during
advertisement localization. But before going for an advertisement translation
one must analyze and determine a few important things well in advance. At
first, one must ensure whether there is actually a need to localize the
advertisement or not? Is there a significant difference between the language
and culture of the native market and foreign market? If yes, then before opting
for the advertising localization one must carefully analyze the impact that the
localized advertisement can have in the business. To do this, basically three
types of impacts can be analyzed:

1. The Zero Effect: This represents the situation of no profit no
   loss. Sometimes it happens that the localization of the advertisements and
   company’s promotional videos does not bring any change in the market.
   There is no effect on the company image, the band power and on the sales.
2. The Positive Effect: This indicates that the advertising
   localization will have a positive effect on the company’s current
   position. This impact can be in the form of increased customer base, rise
   in sales, empowered brand, improvement in the company’s communication
   channels, increase in the goodwill of the company etc.
3. The Negative Effect: This is the most unexpected effect of the
   advertising localization in which the company incurs losses. This loss can
   be in the form of decreased customer base, deterioration of the company’s
   image and status, low sales etc.

These
impacts are analyzed keeping in mind a lot of factors and the information
gathered from the past experience. The translator has a lot of responsibility
on his shoulder as he is the one who has to recreate the advertisement in such
a manner that it has a positive effect on the business.

Different constraints in the process of
Advertising Localization

As
discussed above, the job of an advertisement translator is not easy. He has to
analyze the effect of his work on the client’s business and act accordingly.
But this is nor all over. Once the translator starts his job a large number of
constraints and issues stand in front of him. One of the major constraints is
that the translation of advertisement cannot be done on the basis of the
creativity of the translator alone. It has to be done keeping in mind the rules
and boundaries of the advertising world. In other words the translation of the
advertisements is a very specific process rather than a generalized approach.

Below
are some of the elements and parameters which affect the work of advertising
localization:

1. The Economic Factor: The total amount of money which the company
   agrees to spend on the translation of the advertisement has a direct
   impact on the working of the translator. Translation is a very costly
   process as it requires a lot of researches to be done, sophisticated
   computerized tools are used and generally a team of professionals work
   together in the project. It may be possible that there is scope for
   improvement in a particular project but due to low budget it cannot be
   carried on further. Also, while preparing the financial plan for the
   advertising campaign the company measures the cost which is to be incurred
   against the value addition which is expected to occur as a result of
   advertising localization.
2. Time Constraint: How much time a company can devote to the
   process of advertising localization determines the translation methodology.
   If the deadline of the project is too tight then it directly affects the
   amount and quality of research and translation.
3. Socio-Cultural Parameter: This is the most restrictive element which
   stops the translator from using his creativity. At first, the translator
   has to understand the culture associated with the native language and the
   culture followed by the target audience before start translating the
   advertisement. This is a very important task because the translated
   material should not be offensive in any respect. This task becomes very
   tedious when the translation is multi-lingual. In that case different
   translators (each specializing in a different target language) work on the
   same project and try to find out the cultural equivalencies between the
   source language and the target one.
4. Political and Legal Framework: The government rules and legal regulations of
   foreign markets determine the way of advertising localization. Different
   countries and states have different rules regarding business ethics and
   code of conduct of their market. It is therefore very crucial to know
   about these rules and regulations in order to avoid any kind of
   disapproval of the completed project. For example in some countries
   advertising liquor and tobacco is a crime.

Formulating the right translation
strategy

After
analyzing the impact of various factors and parameters on the process of
advertising localization, it’s time to formulate the right strategy for each
phase which is to be followed throughout the project. As discussed above a
variety of factors determine the translation methodology.

Broadly
speaking, the work of advertisement translation can be carried out in two ways.
The first one is the centralized approach and another one is decentralized
approach.

In
a centralized way all the management of the translation process is in-house,
i.e. all the operations related to the process of advertising localization are
controlled by the advertising company itself. The company has its own
publishing house and has translators as its full time employees. Centralized
management is useful when the project is carried out on a small scale.

In
the decentralized approach the company outsources the translation work to the
translation agency and that agency looks after the whole translation process.
However, decentralization leads to increase in overall cost of the project but
it is required if the project is big.

Apart
from these two broad approaches to translation there are other strategies which
have to be developed. The professional translators carefully research and
understand all those factors which directly or indirectly affect their work.
They have to translate the advertisements in such a way that it can be easily
understood by the target audience but do not loose its magnetism. The
linguistics, phrases and culturally equivalent words have to be intellectually
replaced.

Translation
is basically changing a script to another language to make it easily
understood. During translation the translator has to understand the meaning of
the source text, its related cultural conventions and translate it into the target
language by using culturally equivalent words. As there are a large number of
translation methodologies for different types of translations, the process of
translation becomes complex. The main objective of every translation is to make
the target audience understand the text in their native language without any
confusion or cultural misinterpretations. If the translation is not done
correctly it can lead to huge losses. For example a slight mistake during
medical translation can make millions of patients suffer. If there is an error
in legal translation then it can lead to disturbance in law and order.
Similarly every other translation such as financial translation, scientific
translation, technical translation etc. cannot cope with any kind of carelessness.

Thus,
it is important to develop high quality standards and tests to check the
quality of the translated work. In fact, quality assurance is the most crucial
phase of the translation process. If the translation passes the quality tests
then only it gets approved and delivered.

In
order to test different types of translation work a large number of procedures,
quality standards and parameters have been designed. These parameters are
developed keeping in mind a lot of translation specific factors. Thus the
making of quality standards and procedures itself is an intellectual and
challenging tasks. Each and every factor which directly or indirectly affects
the translation is taken into consideration and standards are formulated
against which it is measured.

According
to ISO 9000 quality standard, one should improve his/her business standards by
ensuring the high level of quality at each phase. The major challenge in
following this guideline is how to determine the desired level of quality
standard against which the actual performance can be measured. This is because
the quality is a relative term. Different people perceive quality in different
ways and thus the level of expectations also varies. Apart from this, another
issue which arises during standard formation is that the quality levels get
affected by the constraints in requirements. As the requirements of a project
are very specific the domain of the quality standards also shrinks. Every
project have a formal document in which all the details regarding the work,
time limits and desired level of results are described in detail. As these
factors determine the work methodology and guide the workforce throughout the
project, it is important to consider them while creating quality standards.

Quality Translation

In
order to deliver high quality translated material there are many guidelines out
of which the most important one says that first of all the translator must know
the client. If he doesn’t know the client expectations and cultural background
he can never translate the text which can please the client and conform to his
culture and ethics. In fact, in the majority of the cases the issues in
translation quality does not arise due to mistakes in the translated work,
rather they arise because of the mismatch between the client’s expectations and
the assumptions of the translator.

Thus
in order to deliver a good quality translation the translator must leave all
the assumptions behind and must communicate with the client regularly to
synchronize his work with the objectives and goals of the client. A
Service-Level Agreement (SLA) is also signed between the translator and the
client which defines the expected level of service throughout the translation process.

Quality Metrics

In
order to measure the quality of products and services different types of
quality metrics are designed and are based on certain rules and factors related
to the product and services. A matrix works like a proper standard against
which the actual performance can be measured in numeric terms. It is very
important that the metrics are objective and unbiased because if they are
subjective then the performance cannot be measured numerically. Subjective
metrics are based upon the opinions rather than following scientific methods
and thus the results are vague.

In
order to develop a proper objective quality matrix all those factors which have
impact on the final output, whether directly or indirectly are taken into
consideration very carefully according to their weightage. The weights are
assigned to them according to the intensity of their impact on the final
output. Apart from this, different types of statistical, mathematical and
scientific equations and procedures are also used depending upon the type of
translation, service level agreement and customer requirements etc.

An
example of a good quality matrix is SAE J2450. This matrix is designed with a
goal to provide a tangible method for measuring the quality of translation
deliverables as precisely as for any manufactured product. This matrix checks
for different types of errors in a translated document such as wrong terms,
violation of glossary, syntactical errors, errors in subject verb agreement,
omissions, sentence structure, punctuation related errors and any issues with
the overall linguistic look and feel of the translated document.

Determining the level of Quality

According
to ISO
8402:1994,” Quality is the totality of
features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability
to satisfy stated or implied needs.”

The
above definition of quality says that the quality consists of all stated as
well as implied characteristics of the products and services. This is also
applicable for the translation services. The main feature of a translated
document for which people look for is hundred percent accuracy but they never
ask the translator for that exclusively as this is an implied expectation.

Difference between Quality Assurance
and Quality Assessment

Though
they look similar, the two terms i.e. Quality assurance and Quality Assessment
are entirely different. The former refers to the practice of planning the
course of actions systematically which has to be followed throughout the
process in order to ensure that there is no scope for errors. The latter refers
to the practice of measuring the actual performance against the pre-determined
quality standards and procedures to find out any errors.

While
quality assurance is a preventive measure quality assessment is the curative
one. Quality assurance always takes place before quality assessment and thus
the process of assessment is not considered as an integral part of the actual
production phase of the translation process. Apart from this, one more
noticeable difference between these two is that quality assessment only
identifies the errors and the extent to which the errors have been committed by
calculating the difference between the pre-determined standards and actual
performance. On the other hand, the quality assurance lays down the guidelines
which explain how to keep the whole translation process error free.

Is Quality really measurable?

Well,
this is a matter of debate. While some people believe that quality is an
intangible identity which is perceived differently by different people, it
cannot be quantified the others believe that despite all of these facts the
quality can be measured by developing standards using various scientific and
statistical methods.

According
to various researches, the term quality is non-tangible but that doesn’t mean
that it cannot be measured. By carefully studying the various aspects,
characteristics and definition of quality it has been concluded that quality
can be quantified but for every different type of project different type of
quality matrices has to be developed. In order to create project specific
quality standards a large number of relevant factors and assets have to be
taken into consideration very carefully. The expectations of the client, the
service level agreement, the production requirements and guidelines etc. have a
direct impact on the type of quality assessment model which is going to be
made.

Before
creating a quantitative model, one must prepare a definition of the quality
considering the aforesaid elements. Once a concrete and relevant definition is
made can guide throughout the process of quality standard development. The
definition must ensure that it represents all the desired level of performance and
client’s expectations. It’s natural that once the translator knows what people
actually demand for he will work in that direction only and the chances of
errors will be minimized to a great extent.

Which model is the best for measuring
the quality of translation?