Client Side Translation Reviewers

If a client-side reviewer of a delivered translation is qualified to make a critical comment concerning a translation, they really should be qualified enough to make a specific comment.

This is one of the criteria we apply on those rare occasions when a client calls into question the quality of a translation. General criticisms carry less weight than specific ones. And in the case of specific suggestions for translation changes, the vast majority of those are preferential in nature. That is they call attention to a word choice preference by a reviewer rather than an outright error.

When a preferred translation is called to our attention it’s easy enough to pass the comment by a translator and if acceptable then make the change. General criticisms (e.g., “I don’t like this translation”) are difficult to effectively respond to.

Can a professional translator anticipate the preferred translations of a client? No not automatically. They can be informed though via a bilingual glossary or list of preferred terms provided by the client. Even then we recommend that the translator have the freedom to apply alternate target language translation selections if in their judgment there’s a clearly better fit.