Le Projet CGAP
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Transcript Le Projet CGAP
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
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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
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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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Translator Background
Education
Translation: 27
Humanities and business: 29 (law, literature...)
Sciences: 6 (medicine, engineering, sciences)
All freelancers
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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)
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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
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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.
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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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Examples
FR
EN
ERR
Produit bio
Bio product
-3
Sèche serviette
électrique
Electric towel dryer
-2
Écran de connexion
Connection screen
-1
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Test Details.2
5 tests of ~300 words each
Technical, medical, legal, financial, general
No time limit
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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
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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
€
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(Average price of translators
who declined test: 0,091€ /
source word)
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Score Distribution
100% of terms are
-2 errors
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30% of terms are 2 errors
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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
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Scores vs. Education
66
Humanities
82
Sciences
77
Translation
T-test Humanities/ Translation : P = 0,05
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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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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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85% of translators < 0.7€
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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.
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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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