Translator’s Price and
Training:
Quality Indicators ?
Giselle Sanchez
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Translation: an unregulated
profession
Anyone can become a translator
 Graduates, any level
 Inexperienced bilinguals
 From 20-year olds to retired workers
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Choosing a free lance translator
 Obvious selection criteria:
• Formal training in translation
• Extensive experience
 An indirect criterion:
• Price
 Thus, we expect a correlation between:
• Qualification / quality
• Qualification / price
• Quality / price
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Translation Test
Sample
 Unsolicited applications received by Media
Langues in 2007-2008
 178 translators solicited
• 23 refused test (13%)
• 82 did not return test (46%)
• 73 returned test (41%)
FR>EN
EN>FR
37 translators
36 translators
(U.K., France)
(France, Belgium)
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Translator Background
Education
 Translation: 27
 Humanities and business: 29 (law, literature...)
 Sciences: 6 (medicine, engineering, sciences)
All freelancers
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Translation Quality Assesment
A research field with no consensus yet
Dominated by complex, multi-criteria
measures
• SAE J2450 (wrong usage of glossary, syntactic error,
omission, word structure, misspelling… 7 criteria)
• ATA’s certification exam (legibility, misunderstanding, mistranslation, omissions/additions,
terminology, style... 22 criteria)
• SICAL scale/Gouadec studies: 675 error types (300
lexical, 375 syntactic)
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Usability in the translation industry
These tests are good for academic purposes or in
specific QC situations
As a business, we need a practical means to
screen a large number of translators
Excludes qualitative evaluations or timeconsuming metrics
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Terminology-based assesment
Our assumption: the most discriminating
translation quality criteria is terminology
 Objective (unlike style)
 Critical and ubiquitous (technical, legal,
business)
 On the difficulty scale, terminology is higher
than any other objective criteria such as
spelling, grammar, omissions, typography…
 A bad terminology can’t be proofread
 Most often good terminology comes with good
grammar, style, etc. The reverse is not true.
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Test details.1
~18 terminology control points in each text
Error scoring
 Wrong sense = -3 points
 Inacurate, but can be understood = -2 points
 Correct but unusual = -1 points
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Examples
FR
EN
ERR
Produit bio
Bio product
-3
Sèche serviette
électrique
Electric towel dryer
-2
Écran de connexion
Connection screen
-1
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Test Details.2
5 tests of ~300 words each
 Technical, medical, legal, financial, general
 No time limit
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Caveats
 Small sample size
 Sample not including fully-booked
translators
 Self-excluded translators: did not return or
refused test
 Possible differences between test levels
 Uncontrolled test conditions
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Prices
Français
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Average:
0,088€ / source word
(0,077€ / target word)
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
€
Anglais
20
Average:
0,086€ / source word
15
10
5
0
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
€
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
(Average price of translators
who declined test: 0,091€ /
source word)
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Score Distribution
100% of terms are
-2 errors
Media Langues
30% of terms are 2 errors
ATC Annual Conference 2008
15% of terms are 2 errors
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Score vs. Price
Price (€/ source word)
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Score vs. Age and Experience
Media Langues
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Scores vs. Education
66
Humanities
82
Sciences
77
Translation
T-test Humanities/ Translation : P = 0,05
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Price vs. Education
0,083
Humanities
0,094
Sciences
0,088
Translation
T-test Humanities/ Translation : P = 0,29
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Hiring Criteria
Criterion
<0,07€
0,070,08€
0,080,09€
>0,09€
Translation
studies
Other
studies
Score
>70
23%
57%
75%
85%
78%
60%
Score
>80
15%
30%
63%
44%
41%
34%
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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85% of translators < 0.7€
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ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Conclusions
 Translation studies do not guarantee high
quality, but are a positive factor.
 For companies, low rates should be a
warning sign, but high rates do not
guarantee high quality.
Media Langues
ATC Annual Conference 2008
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Perspectives
 Compare translation diplomas
 Develop standard terminology-based tests
 Direct measure
 Practical
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Acknowledgements
Aurélie Devynck, Master TSM (Traduction
Spécialisée Multilingue), Université Lille 3
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