Editor's note: This article was written by Tom Paul, formerly of Bangalore, India, research company Cross-Tab's marketing team.

Ask most market researchers about translations and you get the same glazed-over look followed by a long, stressed-out sigh. There are many pitfalls that can stump a project - or worse, deliver inaccurate data. My goal is to deliver a successful translations model for ensuring consistency and quality in delivery. To achieve this, there must be a basic understanding of why we decide to vend out our translations; what the language service provider (LSP) industry is; how we decide which one to use; and good internal rules to follow.

Whether you're a small, mid-size or large market research firm, the most practical approach to translating questionnaires into multiple languages is to use a LSP. LSPs have a network of linguists trained and certified in translating documents. These linguists have a professional ability to take the meaning of a text in one language (the source text) and create an equivalent text (the target text) that communicates the same message in another language. While it seems easy enough to choose a co-worker who speaks Spanish, for instance, to take the English source and translate it, what you receive will likely be inaccurate at some level. Don't make the mistake in thinking that just because someone can translate from a language, they can also translate into it. Certified translators understand the technical nuance of their industry.

Certified translators

Certified translators offer some unique benefits. They avoid transliteration (the word-for-word translation of text) because simply translating the words may altr the conveyed meaning and make it sound unnatural. They also avoid transcreation (completely recreating the text in another language). This approach can be volatile because as we understand multi-country projects in market research, it is imperative to stay as true to the source text as possible. Certified translators produce a target document that is in the middle of transliteration and transcreation: a document that communicates the same message, sounds natural and is not a complete recreation of the source document. Finally, they respect the mother-tongue nuances. Spanish may be a language spoken by millions of people around the word but that doesn't mean that Mexicans use the same word to describe X as do the Spaniards. In the English language, we find differences in American English verses Queen's English and often have to still ensure that proper local English is used.

The LSP industry

While the LSP industry is large, there are certain constraints that exist that require market research organizations to adopt an internal model for ensuring high-quality delivery of service. The LSP industry does not have a governing body per se, which requires common best practices. This is not uncommon across industries. Online data collection quality standards in research, for example, don't follow the same standards across organizations. Regardless, it is prudent to use a process for hiring LSPs and executing translations.

When hiring an LSP, consider the following:

  • Are the linguists they use certified, either by the LSP or by a body such as the American Translators Association?
  • Are the linguists they use native to the country/language they are translating to?
  • Does the LSP have an internal peer-review translation process to ensure the initial translations are proofread and to ensure the final document is complete and in the proper format?
  • Can the LSP produce the translated document in different formats (i.e., monolingual or bilingual)? Monolingual is having the entire document in the target language. Bilingual is having both the source and target language in the same document. Typically bilingual is needed when transferring text from paper to a programming script.

Additionally, there are some technology-related items that will not be discussed in this article but are still important to consider:

  • Does the LSP have the ability to maintain a translation library? This is useful for ensuring consistency in delivery for the same client and cost-hedging because commonly-used words for that client will only be translated once and reused in future questionnaires.
  • Can the LSP work with you to automate the translations overlay process? Some interviewing platforms have the capability to upload the translated questionnaire directly into the script, removing the need to cut and paste translations over the source text.

Share the rules

I would also like to share the rules that I have used to reduce noise in the translation process; allow for consistency in delivery; and decrease the amount of critical errors delivered.

Internally, researchers would be wise to adhere to certain recommendations internally. Remember: It's all in the defense. To begin, a full translation must be done by a preferred and accredited translation agency and then fully proofed or proofread by a separate translation agency. It is also advised to specify if you want the brand or image text (if any) also translated and deliver the source text to the LSP with directions specific to the country or target language. For instance, with Mandarin, do you want to use simplified or traditional Chinese characters? With Spanish-language translations, do you want it Mexican-centric or localized to Puerto Rican or Cuban? Ensure you are covering all language in that country. If conducting a survey in South Africa, you may want to have it scripted in English and Afrikaans. In Switzerland you'll have to consider the four national languages: German, French, Italian and Rumantsch - the latter though only being 1 percent of the population. Next, ask the LSP to deliver the document back in a monolingual or bilingual format and send the translated document out for a full proofing.

Use a systematic approach for dealing with suggestions or issues that may arise during the proofreading process. The proofreader provides his/her input and identifies corrections in two manners using a proofing log: a critical error versus a subjective error. Critical errors are words that are clearly denoting the incorrect word or meaning. Subjective is the tomato/tomato argument. Critical errors must be reviewed by the initial translator to validate the correction whereas subjective errors are trivial. For subjective errors, I would recommend accepting the initial translation. You may also consider asking the client if they have a preference, assuming they or someone in their organization speaks the target language. Finally, maintain a critical-error log by vendor with some client details to track and measure the quality of service.

Implement internal measures

Avoid that glazed-over look when dealing with translations and implement internal measures to ensure a quality delivery. It may seem all Greek to you in the beginning but once you understand the nuance of translations, you can navigate these waters with relative confidence and ensure the process is efficient and effective.