Mechanical quality control is a set of mechanical checks that detects potential errors in translated content that are easily missed by the human eye. These include omissions, numerical errors, inconsistencies, and punctuation issues in the translation compared to the source text. Many QC tools also have a function for checking consistency with any glossary that has been provided for the project, checking whether the terms in the glossary or termbase have been used in the translation.
No matter how conscientious and experienced a translator or reviser is, certain issues can be missed, especially in a longer translation. A QC check helps ensure that there are no errors of the type that a mechanical tool is able to detect. It is performed at the end of each translation assignment before delivery, along with complete a spellcheck of the translation.
All of them. QC checking is a mandatory step in Sandberg workflows, and linguists must submit a checklist when they complete a project to confirm that they have performed a QC.
Most sophisticated translation tools such as memoQ and SDL Trados Studio have built-in QC checkers which can be run on a single file at a time or in batch mode on all files in the project. At Sandberg we have developed our own in-house settings for memoQ, which are customised for the Nordic languages and English. We also apply our clients’ own customised settings and perform QC checks in their preferred tool on request, including ApSic Xbench, Yamagata QA Distiller and Verifika QA. Some clients prefer to run their own QC checks following delivery, in which case we schedule additional time with our linguists to review the QC report and update and fix any outstanding issues.
These checks are included as a minimum:
Other more detailed checks include:
We can also exclude certain segments from the QC check if these are not within the project scope.