The quality of a translation can be seen as how 'fit for use' it is. This will vary very much depending on the requirements of the assignment. For example the quality requirements for a translation that is used to give the overall gist of what is being discussed may be very different to the requirements of a piece that is highly technical and requires the reader to follow line by line and point by point. Quality, then, depends on the on how the originator intends the end user (be they reader, listener or viewer) to use the work. Often the difficulty arises when, once having commissioned the work, the commissioning body has no way to validate if the end result is 'fit for use'. This is typically due to the fact that they do not speak or read the target language. A solution to this is to use the post production process of back translation. This article examines how this can be used to validate translation work and gives real world examples where this type of translation can be used.
The process of back translation is very straightforward. Typically, a assignment involves the translating the document, then an independent reviewer proofing and editing the text prior to submission. This process may be more or less complex depending on the nature of the assignment and the organisation or body involved in providing the services. Back translations add to this process by retranslating the final text back into the original source language. Although not an identical word for word match, once translated the text should provide a close resemblance of the original. If the retranslated text appears to have no resemblance to the original, or worse, contradicts the original (and assuming that this was not the purpose of that translation process) then you could classify as being of low quality.
Why use it? The benefit of this validation process is twofold. Firstly, as mentioned above, it can be used as a tool to help validate the quality of the work. If the quality of a text is in doubt this process will give a good understanding of the work. Secondly, back translations can be used to understand how well a text is suited to a specific market. Writing styles vary greatly from location to location and culture to culture, and using text that can be easily followed once translated is important. For example if you have a text that is full of colloquial terms and expressions and then the subsequent back translation misses the meaning of these, the problem may not be in the translation but the source material. Back translation can be a useful method for checking the usability of source material in a desired market.
What it is not: It should be pointed out at this stage that back translations will never be a word for word match of the original. The translator processing the back translation will only have the translated file as their source file which, unless it is a literal word for word translation, will be the original translator's interpretation of the text.
Back translation can be used by a range of businesses and many industries will have this phases as a required part of their translation process. Pharmaceutical companies for example may need to have all their translations back translated as part of the validation process or for compliance reasons. Here a miss-translation or an error in the translation could prove fatal. Similarly, back translations may be required by organisations who need to confirm that once translated their material will make sense to their target market. Theatre production companies who are touring with a translated script may feel back translations would be useful for their needs. This is even more so the case when they are unable to validate the credentials of the translator who undertook the original translation. Other bodies that may require back translations include legal companies who need to source the meaning of text that has already been translated and market research organisations who need to understand the finding of an already translated market research survey.
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