The 5-Step Translation Process

Based on my experience as a translator, both doing initial translations and revising poorly done jobs, I developed a unique 5-step process that minimizes or eliminates guesswork, assuring a high-quality translation every time.

Here’s how it works:

1. Orientation

Orientation prepares the translator for the job.

Orientation gives the translator a chance to learn what the source document is about, who it’s for, and why it’s being created.

Knowing these factors, the translator can determine how to write the final document.

For example, if the document is an operation manual, it should use consistent language and terminology. Long Japanese compound sentences should be broken into two or three English sentences. Repetition is acceptable.

If the document is for an international audience, it should be written in a simplified style accessible to non-native speakers.

If the document is a product brochure, it will need reworking to make it conform to English copywriting standards. For example, Japanese copywriting does not have a strict taboo against repetition. The translator must therefore replace repetitive phrases with alternatives. This constitutes a rewrite, and is a lot of work.

Orientation is an opportunity to get technical explanations relating to the document’s contents.

A solid technical background enables the translator to grasp otherwise ambiguous relationships between phrases and sentences. The translator can then more easily recreate these relationships in the target language.

If the document is a product’s operation manual, during orientation the client can demonstrate the product or let the translator try it.

Procedures are often written assuming the reader is actually handling the product. Actual experience operating the product multiplies comprehension.

Orientation gives the translator a solid foundation upon which to build a suitable document.

2. Questions

This is the key step in high-quality translation. It takes one sentence to describe, but lots of time to do. Yet without it, the translator is just guessing.

Here’s the one sentence:

While writing the first draft, the translator makes a list of questions about passages he or she doesn’t understand.

Seems simple, doesn’t it? But many translators will not do it.

3. Answers

The translator gets answers to his or her questions from the client. They can meet, use the phone, exchange e-mail—whatever is convenient.

If necessary, the translator will seek further clarification until satisfied that he or she can complete a suitable first draft.

4. Translation Check

The client checks the first draft of the translation, indicating required corrections.

5. Corrections

The translator makes the required corrections.

During this step, new questions based on the corrections may arise. The translator will then contact the client for further clarification.

Why These Five Steps?
High quality depends on minimizing guesswork and using the best resources available. The first three steps of our process—Orientation, Questions, and Answers—eliminate the guesswork that dooms many translation projects.

The Orientation and Answers steps also identify and utilize the best resources, which are most likely to be located in your organization, not a translation agency.

The final two steps—Translation Check and Corrections—are standard parts of a complete translation process. Always make sure that the translated document says what you want it to.