ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a very simple question: what is quality in translation? This leads to a discussion of the concept of quality in translation that exposes the so-called academy–industry divide. When academics tend to define translation quality as an absolute, industry professionals prefer to adopt a more pragmatic view of quality as a process that ensures ‘fitness for purpose’. To that end, readers will be introduced to industry standards – in particular ISO 17100:2015 and its six QA steps (translation, check, revision, review, proofreading and final verification & release)–as a recognised way to benchmark quality in the translation industry. Chapter 7 then discusses ways for professional translators to encourage the right quality level in their translation projects in a way that not only meets their clients’ requirements, but is also ethical and sustainable. Should, for instance, all translation projects contain a revision phase as part of the QA procedure? This leads to a brief discussion of what revision is about and the role of a reviser before moving on to explore in some depth both the role and the impact of translation tools and technology (CAT tools and MT) on quality management.
