Why translations are easy to criticize and is that possible to achieve an undisputed level of translation? Every translator, even once, has noticed how much challenging is the work of translation. They need to translate, to revise, to comment and report. Once their work is revised, they need as well to win the battle.

Translation is not mathematics and no exact laws apply here. Translation is based on complex cognitive processes. Grammar, punctuation, terminology and various linguistic rules apply here. It is difficult to speak with exhaustive evidence when you defend some linguistic viewpoint. The fact of absolute accuracy becomes even difficult when the so-called "Preferred translations" appear during the review. Translations, however, may become less vulnerable when the language rules, terms, and vocabulary are used correctly. Working the text accurately make it less controversial to the final reader. So who are the actors of translation process and how it is developed? Minimum three actors take part in the process to ensure quality work - translator, reviewer and customer. Let's briefly summarize each actor's work-cycle:

Translator: The translator takes the lion's share. He is doing the stressful part of the work. He translates the text following the correct punctuation, spelling and grammar. He works on words, terms and phraseological structures, he checks the fluency and provides readable content to the reader. The translator also reviews his own work. However, each translation must undergo additional review stages and qualitative analysis. The ultimate goal is to provide high quality translations to clients.   Reviewer: The translator's own review is not enough. While working steadily on the text, some mistakes skip anywhere from the attention. Translation is still the process of human mind, hence the ability to see one's mistakes decreases. Double-checking is required to improve the text quality. The review is primarily done to check the accuracy of translation and eliminate external errors, such as typos, spelling problems, punctuation, etc. Semantic errors, structural problems, fluency and terms are checked as well.   Customer: Some output of translation is finalized by the customer. The client works with his local team, using his own vocabulary within the company. Customer reviews allow to get an extra assessment achieving the desired quality through the comments and amendments. When working with clients, it is recommended to obtain preliminary documents from the company, such as references, samples, links, a list of used terminology to minimize the possible changes.

Each translation review arises controversial questions. The disagreement between the translators and reviewers relates mostly the preferential changes, though are common the following mistakes as well:

Minor mistakes

Such minor mistakes do not affect the semantic part of the text. They are not considered as major mistakes.  Being the "cosmetic" part of the translation, minor mistakes are punctuation errors, small typos or extra letters in the words, superfluous letters and world, extra dots and spacing - they all still have a significant impact on the quality of translation.

Semantic and terminology errors

Semantically, we must refrain from misrepresentations. It is necessary to choose the right words, adapting them to the given language linguistic thinking. Phraseological structures must be used correctly forming perceptible idea for the reader.

Spelling and grammar

Spelling mistakes are considered as critical mistakes. They impact negatively your reader and make a quick opinion on your language ability. Take some precautions and never give up until your translation is completely free of mistakes. 

Fluency

The translation quality is significantly improved due to the smooth structure of sentences. You have many possibilities to rearrange your sentences. Even when you got a good structure, there would appear another one, surpassing the previous by its fluency. You shouldn't be satisfied by only receiving an accurate output. You have to revise the sentences as much until you will your reader would be completely comfortable passing through the translation lines.

Style

Each text has its own style. You can never translate a legal text without keeping its unique style. If you translate an advertisement, it requires a compelling text that is appealing to the audience. Sport translations are completely different. Each word or meaning should create a competitive and enthusiastic spirit. In order to maintain the style of translation, ones must fully immerse into the context to understand the stylistic arrangements and reproduce the local equivalents. Hence, translations are not only the result of linguistic effort, they are equally the result of creative endeavor. With each new text, the translator faces a new challenge. Remain to follow constantly the rules and quality procedures. They would strengthen your translations leaving no doubts to your customers.

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