The review of the translation is a critical step in the translation process. You need to consider in advance who needs to be involved in that review. This needs to cover both in-country review and possibly additional review by specific technical experts.

There are really two elements to the review — a proofread to ensure that all of the content has been included in the translation, for example units of measure have been transcribed accurately, and the review of the translated language. The review of the translated language would most often be done by someone from your in-country team who is a native speaker and who knows your products and brand thoroughly.

It is a good idea to get reviewers involved before translation begins. They can be involved in creating the initial appendix and style of the document, learn about the background and goals of the translation, and create a sense of commitment in order to foresee time in their schedules for the final review. Getting them on board from the initial start of the project will help this final step in the process run efficiently and help ensure an on-time launch.

Also consider the skills and capabilities required by each of the reviewers. As this is a critical quality control step, do you need to provide procedures and training on how to undertake the reviews successfully?

Editing

It is an advisable business practice to have another team member read and perhaps edit your document prior to proceeding with the actual translation. A second pair of eyes can habitually find ways to improve even the most well written document, whether original or translated. However, if you are self-editing your document, you need to set a procedure or checklist.

This may include printing the document and rereading, check for lapses, missing numbers, lack of consistency, and finally, spell-check. It is important for you to establish how you prefer to review your work; will you look for all types of errors at once or concentrate on one at a time? It is essential to specify these elements before beginning the translation process.

Have typeset copy proofread by your translator

This should always be done, no matter how comprehensive a procedure you have in place. Even if you work with trustworthy translation providers who know your company extremely well, there runs a risk of error with last-minute additions to your document (anything from new headings to simply changing a word) by well-intentioned peers. This is why it is important to ensure that you have a native speaker on hand for the final adjustments — ideally, this person should be on the project from the beginning. It is also recommended that these types of final reviews be done in writing and not over the phone or video. It is essential that the complete document be in context.

Technical and scientific nomenclature are both rigorous and international

Even specialists writing on technology in their own language need to consult the correct reference when providing translation services; even they can make mistakes. Technical and scientific translators, like others, need to ensure that their output reads as intended in the original document. Actually, it often happens that it ends up being better than the original since it benefits from the concentration and skills of more than one pair of eyes. Beware when you review your document, if you notice incorrect use of technical terms, this could mean your translator is not qualified for your project. You may want to ask subject-matter specialists in your organisation for their input and comments.

Finally, before going to press, it is prudent to have your professional translator provide a final check for grammar, syntax, punctuation and style, especially if your subject-matter experts are not native speakers.

In the next blog we will look at the next step – Approving the Translation.

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

Take a systematic approach to preparing the translation

Having an inquisitive translator will prove useful — no-one gives your texts more careful attention than your translator. As they progress through your document, he or she is likely to identify uncertain issues — sections where clarification may be needed. This is a good thing! It will give you the opportunity to improve your original document. The kind of translator you want (the good ones) take your sentences apart entirely before they create new ones in the target language. Expect them to ask questions along the way.

Your translator should:

• Read and understand the entire body of the text before starting the translation.

• Make a list of terms or phrases that they do not understand in order to obtain clarifications.

• Use a spell-check program, if available.

• Check for text enhancements: italics, underlined text or bolded text.

• Check for capitalization, punctuation, and typographical errors.

• Verify the new format they created against the original version you provided. They need to account for every paragraph, bullet, box and format feature that was contained in the original version.

• Foresee adequate time to have the materials reviewed by the proofreader.

• Once the proofreader has made recommendation and suggested changes, the translator must evaluate if appropriate.

•Provide one final review of the translation one more time before publishing.

Beware of expansion and contraction factors

Word count can change when translating into other languages from English. This is known as the ‘expansion factor’ or ‘contraction factor’. For example, when translating from English to Russian, you can be certain that the word count will increase. Conversely, many Asian languages use scripts that require less space than English.

This means that when you are having a brochure, website or any other material translated into a new language, be prepared for the fact that it may become considerably longer or significantly shorter. Therefore, be sure to check how your translator charges for their service and whether they base their fees on the source or target language as this can make a difference in your final costs.

Consider that typography varies from one language to another — many printers and office staff may be tempted to ‘adjust’ foreign language texts to bring them into line with their own standards. This should be verified and avoided. French has a space between a word and the colon that follows and uses « » for quotation marks. In German, all nouns take capital letters. In Spanish and French, neither months nor days of the week take an initial capital. Not to mention, it’s not alright to type just an “n” when Spanish requires an “ñ”. This may seem like minor things, but the cumulative effect is off-putting for foreign-language readers. Make sure your translator respects the typographical conventions of the language you need working into.

Beware of machine translations

Language translation: pas de problème! Just pop your text into an automatic machine or software translation, right? Not quite! With budgets being tightened, it may seem fitting to use this type of translation to save money and time, but it will most always offer a translation filled with mistakes. This could potentially do you more harm than you think. Automatic translations don’t think for themselves and can’t grasp the important nuances of a language; they most often get it wrong. You will have no way of verifying if this translation is appropriate before it is too late.

By offering a less than perfect translation to your customers, it gives the impression that they are not worthy of you taking the time and making the effort to have proper text for them understand. This could mean a negative effect on your organisation’s reputation.

If you must use machine translation — use it when you need to get just an idea of some-thing for your own use. Machine Translation (MT) can be useful in these circumstances since it is free and quick.

While machine translation (MT) such as Google Translate and Babelfish have come a long way over the years, use it sparingly. It should not be used for your business communication. Machine translation (MT) should not be confused with computer aided translation since it basically substitutes words from one language to another without considering nuance.

Some of the negative results of using machine translation include:

• The tool generates one meaning of a word in the target language, but the translated word can be out of context.

• Sentence structures are no longer recognisable in the target language.

• Grammar is generally overlooked; a sentence in the past tense might end up in the simple past form.

Areas where machine translation can be useful:

• Translation of emails to understand the basic communication.

• Quick translation of text from a website.

• To get an overall meaning of a letter received.

Areas where machine translation should never be used:

• Printing or publishing of documents

• Court cases

• Corporate marketing

• Patent applications

• Submitting tenders

• Contracts/agreements

• Medical documents

What about translation software? As I mentioned earlier, if you’re pressed for time and want to get the essence of something for your own use, than translation software may be helpful. It is certainly quick, and you can’t get much cheaper than free. But as a general rule of thumb, raw computer output should never be used by your translator for anything out-bound, especially without your express agreement beforehand. There are simply too many associated risks. Careful editing of machine output by skilled human translators could be an option, however, many translators will not accept such assignments as they believe that it’s faster to start from scratch.

Finally, keeping up to date in current events and current slang needs to be considered by both the translator and your company. These can vary from one language to another and must be translated in the right context. We often provide our translators with texts containing new expressions that are trendy or have just crept into the language from everyday occurrences (social media). We need to ensure that our translators get the essence of our intended use.

In the next blog we will look at the next step – Review Translation.

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

Ensure there is a comprehensive instruction to the translation provider

The preparation of the specification discussed in the previous section is the starting point for briefing your service provider. Key things for the service provider are an understanding of the target country, language and dialect(s), the audience, the timelines, the formats and key instructions that you want followed. This is all part of your specification.

Keep your service provider up to date with your project and any potential changes that might happen. This allows them to prepare and be more responsive.

 

Organize your file submissions

To ensure the most effective use of your service provider, don’t just send through all of the materials you may have. Make sure that you have organised your materials to help them. Include all the relevant files in a logical order and don’t include any materials that you don’t want translated. This saves the translator time and effort by not having to sift through mate-rials looking for relevant content or translating material that you don’t need. If the translator has to sort your documentation it will likely delay your project.

Also provide files in a suitable format. Whilst most translation service providers can handle many formats it takes longer to translate from hard copy.

 

Tell the translator what it’s for

Different types of documents need different styles of translations. A technical article is not a travel brochure, and a press release requires a different style from a legal contract. It is therefore essential to be clear to your translation provider what the translation is for and your expectations for tone, word choice, sentence length, phrasing and degree of formality.

You also need to inform your translation provider about your target audience. Different age groups and education backgrounds in your target audiences will require different approaches and tone.

If your translation is a technical subject, it is important that your translation provider under-stands that subject. They need to articulate the subject accurately in a way that is clear and readable to the audience, and people familiar with the subject are likely to produce better text.

An experienced translator is likely to ask for such information and the different requirements in quality have a direct effect on the cost and completion times. For many translations the successful expression of the meaning is more important than an exact translation of the source text, so the translation provider has to make difficult decisions on the style and meaning. As your translation provider gains understanding of your business strategy, products, audiences and preferences, the better their translations will be. If you translation provider is not comfortable with your subjects and audiences, it is time to change your suppliers. You need your foreign language text to have the maximum impact and a provider that can deliver that.

 

Provide all the details to your translator

The more informed your translation provider is, the better prepared they can be and the better service you will receive. The greater the clarity the translation provider has, the more chance there is of choosing a translator who has the appropriate experience in the area.

We have discussed already ensuring the translation provider knows the intended audience, use, style, etc. of your translation, but you also need to think about the quality criteria that have to be met. Some of the questions you need to consider are:

Will a second translator be involved in the editing or proofreading? Is it client’s responsibility, or will a separate reviewer be assigned? The quality of the translated text will be much better if it is reviewed and enhanced by a second translator and in some cases this quality control is a must. However, it may cost extra or have an effect on deadlines so this must be agreed upfront with your translation provider.

Is the overseas representative for your company going to have a look at it as well? If yes, at what stage of the process would this take place? Who is responsible for managing this, the translation provider or yourself?

What will be the format of the final file (PDF, etc), and how will the translation company deliver the file? Who will ensure that all corrections are incorporated and how many revision cycles are included in the price? How do you want to communicate revision requirements to the translation provider?

Finally, it is worth considering what happens to the text after it has been translated. If post-translation work, such as typesetting, is required for the project, it is possible for some translation companies to undertake this as well. Similarly, if the translation is required for recorded speech, the translation company may have services to provide this.

In the next blog we will look at preparing your translation.

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

As we continue in this series of blogs covering the basics on Ensuring Effective Translations, the next set of tips are to help ensure that the translation provider you propose to use is fit for purpose.

Choose professional language translation services carefully

For most organisations who want to ensure the quality of their translations, the use of a language translation agency is the best option. However, there are many agencies out there, so how do you know you are choosing the right one? It is important to understand that translation is a skill and not a commodity. Hence, it is not as simple as just going to the marketplace and choosing the cheapest provider. You need to know the type of work you want the translation agency to do and the criteria you will judge their performance against.

Some of the criteria to consider include:

The type(s) of document(s) being translated
Is your text a contract, a user manual, instructions for taking medicine, a sales brochure, a set of web pages or a financial report?

The technical expertise needed by the person doing the translation
Someone who knows all about medical technology may not be up on accounting, sustainable development or plasma fusion. Make sure that the translator you use is an industry expert.

The intended readers for your document
Are you targeting teenage gamers, genetic researchers, patent agents or simply anyone who might stumble upon your website?

The purpose of the translation
Is the text for internal use or publication?

The regional variation of the target language
Do your readers speak French in Montreal or Paris? It is not the same French.

A selection checklist should include:

- Translator has a knowledge of formal aspects of the target language at a native level, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, and syntax
- Translator has native-language knowledge of the source language, the language from which he or she is translating. Generally, the translation should be into the language the translator knows at an educated level
- Translator has knowledge of the cultural aspects of both language groups
- Translator is a native speaker or has native speaker knowledge of the language
- Translator knows the audience
- Translator conveys meaning rather than word-for-word translations
- Translator is trained or experienced in the colloquial lexicon
- Translator is skilled in proofreading or secures a proofreader for all work
- Translator is certified if the material to be translated is a legal document

Consider Language

A basic rule of translation is that translators work in their native language. That is to say that a translator will translate from another language into their native tongue. So a native English speaking translator would translate from another foreign language into English and not the other way around.

You therefore need to make sure you choose translators that translate into their mother tongue and still have close connections with their birth country, so that they understand and can use current and colloquial language.

If you end up in a situation where you need special subject-matter expertise for your translation and have to use a translator who is not translating into their mother tongue, you need to ensure such translations are carefully reviewed by a native speaker before use.

Ensure the correct specialisations

There are many different types of documents and many different translation providers. It is important that you match your choice of provider with the types of materials you want translated. If you want highly accurate medical information translated, what experience does the translation agency have with this material?

Ensure you do thorough due diligence by asking for samples of work done and references from those for who they have already completed this kind of work for. Do not shy away from placing calls to these referenced customers. Share the samples with people in your network who speak these languages and that you trust to validate the effectiveness of the translation.

Ask for the latest translation memory tools

Translation memory software lets you build inventories of standard phrases and their translations. It captures source language phrases and pairs them with the approved translations. Therefore, when you want to update content or re-use that content elsewhere, these tools make it easier to manage the updates and recycling. This helps ensure all impacted translations are addressed and drives greater consistency.

Look for translation service providers who use appropriate translation memory tools. They save time and money.

Insist on quality assurance (QA)

Accuracy and repeatability are crucial in translations. You’ll likely put great effort into assuring that your source text is accurate and correct and you need to ensure that your translations are as well.

You therefore need to assess the quality assurance processes in the translation service. Translation providers should follow existing quality standards (e.g. EN 15038:2006) but also adapt them to each area of specialisation (e.g. medical translation) in order to manage projects, resources, communication and data in the most efficient way. Do not hesitate to ask about their QA process and their compliance with existing standards.

Also, look for membership of professional organisations. Although this is voluntary, membership of the Association of Translation Companies (ATC) or the Institute of Translating and Interpreting (ITI) brings a set of membership criteria and a professional code of conduct that must be adhered to.

Make sure that translations are proofread by native, target language editors (ideally a second person) before they are submitted back to you. Mistakes tend to be more common in translated documents.

As well, note that some translation agencies will insist on signing off on the final proofs to protect themselves from any further edits in your operation.

Don’t rush for the cheapest

Like any service industry, the provision of translation services is very competitive with many suppliers vying for business. Capabilities, standards, skills and specialisms vary across providers. You therefore need to think of a balanced assessment across all of your requirements rather than just focusing on getting the cheapest cost.

As with any service offering, there will be a minimum price threshold where suppliers below that level cannot meet your other requirements, whatever they may be. You need to consider the impact of not meeting these other requirements (be they service, quality etc.) on the reputation and image of your business. You need to be realistic with your expectations and really understand which matter, versus which are nice to have. Also, appreciate that choosing the cheapest provider may actually end up costing you more in the long term.

When comparing providers ensure you have comparable measurement of costs, ideally through standard and consistent rate cards that allow you to model the total expected cost against your expected workload. Don’t forget to factor the level of revision you expect to see from your organisation.

Also, don’t forget that there are numerous ways of reducing your costs. Getting your translation right the first time eliminates costly rework, review and approval. Long term relationships can lead to volume discounts and increased effectiveness through use of translation memory. Translation providers can also offer additional services like file presentations, desktop publishing and layouts, which may save costs for other parts of your organisation.

Therefore when you are choosing your provider, there are a few questions to consider:

- How will I be charged? Will it be by the line, per page or per 1,000 words? Will it be on the word count of the source language or the target language?
- Are there any additional costs such as ‘urgency’ charges or ‘same day delivery’ charges?
- Is project management included in the price?
- Will there be a single point of contact for me in the company?
- Who is involved in the checking process and will there be any extra fees charged?
- Are other services such as typesetting, interpreting, voice-overs and copy-writing available?
- Does the translation company carry professional indemnity insurance?
- What kind of turnaround promise and guarantees do the company offer?
- Is the company a member of the ATC or ITI?

In the next blog we will look at the fifth step – Translation Specifications; how to establish a set of standards for working with your translation provider.

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

Prepare before you start

Prior to commencing, you need to prepare the text needing translation. The source document needs to be clear, concise and jargon free. The sections to be translated need to be clearly highlighted (or better still, remove the sections that are not to be translated). Glossaries, style guides and technical terminology all need to be provided. In taking the time to prepare up front, you will ensure a successful execution of the rest of the project.


Finalise your text before starting the translation

It is often the mindset that doing translations takes a long time and therefore, it is essential to start as soon as possible. This can create pressure to commence translation before the source text is finalised.

This creates two issues:

- By starting translation before finalising the source text, you are guaranteeing that you will not be able to carry out a correct translation the first time around, and hence, will have to edit the translation a number of times as the remaining information is provided. This results in wasteful extra review cycles and subsequently extends the project timelines.

- Adding extra content requires careful version control of the documents to make sure that all additional comments are captured and added to the right previous versions. Missing such edits is a classic cause of error.

It is therefore always preferable to only begin translation once all information is available. In many cases this can actually be faster, but it requires a mindset change to wait until ready to execute.

In some cases, deadlines make this unfeasible and it is necessary to start the translation whilst finalising the source text. In such cases, version control and time and date stamping must be rigorously applied.

An often-overlooked part of creating the source text is the use of previously translated material. Firstly, in large organisations, is there the chance that someone else in the company could have created this translation? Secondly, are there parts of the source document that have been previously translated and could be incorporated into the document? Re-use of previous translations not only saves time and money, it can increase your brand consistency. To facilitate this, many companies use translation memory tools to store standard translation fragments. Translation memory (TM) is not to be confused with machine translation. A translation memory system stores the source text and the corresponding translation in segments. This could be in either an electronic tool or paper format, depending upon the complexity of the organisation.

Pay special attention to your source documents

As with many other processes, the phrase ‘garbage in – garbage out’ is applicable to your translation process. There are a number of things you can do to the source text document to minimise this effect.

- The first is to think about the translation requirements during the writing process. This can provide opportunities to re-use sections of already translated content and to be concise to avoid unnecessary content requiring translation. Also, aim to avoid local colloquialisms that will be difficult to translate.

- Secondly, stick to standard technical terms from your company glossary. This allows translation providers to have pre-translated phrases in their library for these terms.

- Thirdly, thoroughly review the source document to make sure that any errors are eliminated in the source text before you translate.

- Finally, make sure that the format and layout of the source document makes it easy for the translation provider to produce the translation.

Follow technical writing best practices

There are some recognised best practices that should be followed to ensure effective translations:

- Write short, clear sentences.

- Limit dependent clauses. One thought per sentence helps translators and increases savings from translation memory matches.

- Avoid idiomatic expressions. These are easily misinterpreted.

- Avoid cultural references like sports metaphors or quotations from literary or pop icons, as these often do not work across cultures.

- Make sure symbols are internationally recognised. Don’t assume that a symbol (i.e. a stop sign) has the same meaning in other countries.

Be concise

Consider writing less, as fewer words will mean lighter translation costs. Also if the text is concise, it should be clear and easier for the translator to render for the intended language.

Think international from the start

When developing your source text, it is important to be thinking about the international impact of the text from the start.

The first thing to consider, is to make sure you are using plain English in your document. This means using simple and clear statements that minimise the risk of being misunderstood either by the translator or by the audience after translation. Avoid using jargon or culturally biased language – references to the human body and any anecdotes should also be avoided. Similarly, local sayings and colloquial terms can cause confusion and may be gibberish when translated. The objective should be to keep the text simple, concise and clear.

Secondly, consider what language your readers will be reading your document in. Languages are not consistent between countries, for example British English or American English, French from France or Canadian French. Many countries require multi-lingual documentation due to the variety of languages spoken by their citizens. Therefore, translation requirements between different countries can vary even if it appears to be the same language, and this should influence your choice of translation provider – translators who understand the local subtleties of language are key.

Thirdly, the type of audience you are aiming for will influence the writing style you may want. The style would be different if you are writing to consumers versus skilled technical people. Their requirements and expectations will differ. You therefore need to put yourself in their shoes and prepare your text from their perspective.

Finally, but importantly, you must take into account legal, regulatory and cultural requirements to avoid illegal or offensive text unwittingly. Translation providers who understand the local requirements and customs will guide you with such issues.

Use automation

Modern word-processing tools have many useful features that can help with the preparation of your source text. Use automation in your documents for table of contents, indices, cross-references, variables and internal/external links. Also, make sure to use style sheets so that any updates or resizing can be automatically applied.

Also, avoid using hard and soft returns in sentences as broken sentences cause problems for the translation teams and their tools.


Prepare for text expansion

If English is the language in your source document, remember that it is a relatively concise language and most languages are 20% longer. Therefore remember to account for text expansion when designing the layouts you propose to use. Also consider what size of document you want to use (A4, US letter etc.) to make sure that the translated text will fit as you would want.

Carefully prepare your graphics

Graphics are essential to enhance documents and make them easier to understand. There are a few things you should consider to improve how you work with graphics:

Whenever possible, try to link graphics in a document rather than embed them. This simplifies replacement in localised versions and future updates. Linking graphics also reduces file size, which is friendlier to use with translation tools.

Keep text out of graphic images, as the graphic will have to be recreated to incorporate translated text.

Use screenshots sparingly as they will be in a specific language and would need to be edited for your translated document.

Remember that, depending on language, text may expand when translated. Allow for expansion of the text associated with an image.

To ensure you are only translating what needs to be translated, store localisable images separately from non-localisable images.

Provide editable source files

Re-creating files takes time and adds to cost, so always try to provide editable source files to your translation provider. As discussed above, this should include editable images.

Also consider compressing files if they are extremely large to help protect corruption-prone fonts and speed transmission during very tight schedules.

In the next blog, we will look at the choosing your translation provider; offering our tips to ensure that the translation provider you propose to use is fit for purpose.

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

Define your project clearly and in detail

Before you start anything, you need to know what you want to do. You should think about what you want to be translated and why is it necessary to do it? What is the purpose of the document and how critical is the effectiveness of the translation? Who is the intended audience and what might you have to do to incorporate their needs?

Think about the final purpose(s) of the translation(s)

What are you planning to do with the translated document? Is it for publication, internal use, legal documents, product safety information? Each of these have different groups of readers and different requirements about the style of the translation and the accuracy of the content. Understanding the purpose of the translation should lead you to the best approach for undertaking the translation and the capabilities you may require from a translation provider. It will likely also impact the cost of the translation.

Not all translation agencies are the same. They will have different language capabilities and technical expertise. Understanding the purpose of the translation will facilitate defining what type of translation provider you need.

Understanding the purpose of the translation will also help you define what needs to be translated. There may only be specific parts of the source document that you require and therefore it would make more sense to only have those sections translated into a new abridged version. This will reduce the translation cost and also speed up delivery.

Take the burden off the words

A picture tells a thousand words. Use of diagrams, pictures and illustrations can be more effective with international audiences than pages of highly technical text. Think carefully about the message you

Set deadlines

In order to effectively plan your project, you need to be clear on the deadlines to be met. From your understanding of the project’s purpose, it should be possible to determine what will need to happen to the translation once it has been approved and when approval is required. Is there a publishing deadline to be met, a date the translation must be submitted to print, or an event the translation will be used at? Any of these will dictate when the translation must be required by, forming the deadlines you need to meet.

Plan the project from start through to delivery

Planning your project is all about defining the what, when, who and how. For each step of your translation project be clear on what needs to be done, when that needs to happen, who needs to be involved and how it will be done. If you have a clear plan, you will know if you have been successful in delivering the project.

The key steps of what needs to be done should be set by your translation process, but for some projects there may be multiple documents to be translated or some additional steps that need to be undertaken.

The deadlines you have identified earlier are the starting point for defining the timelines for the plan. It is good practice to have standard lead-times for each step of your process that have been agreed upfront with all parties involved. Therefore, using the step lead-times to back schedule from the deadline to be met, will establish a plan. With careful planning, you should have sufficient time to deliver the translation to the deadline using the standard step lead-times. However, reality says this is not always the case! Where the step lead times and deadlines don’t match, it will be necessary to adjust the step lead-times to meet the delivery date. If this is the case, it is essential that these schedule changes are agreed with the impacted stakeholders, make them aware of the priority and assure their buy-in. A rushed translation will likely result in error, which will cause more delays.

Any translation project will require a number of people involved to prepare the information to be translated, create the translation, review it and finally approve it. It is important to de-fine who this set of individuals are so they can be made aware of the project and how they need to be involved. When defining the translation, involving those approving it can ensure that they don’t get surprises when seeing it and can therefore increase chances of quicker approval. Involving the translation provider early by sharing a draft of the proposed text can help them be familiar with the content.

How tasks are done refers to the methods used for each step. It is good practice to have methods captured in documented procedures. This ensures repeatability and builds in best practices. In many industries, it is a prerequisite to have such activities precisely captured in Standard Operating Procedures. As part of defining the methods, the quality criteria to be met should also be defined. What constitutes an appropriate translation, how will terminology be maintained, how will differences in opinion on wording and syntax be resolved — these could all be captured in a translation quality plan.

To achieve all of the above, you need project management that is likely part of your translation coordinator’s role.

There are two aspects to this role:

• Establishing the project as discussed above, ensuring all of the impacted stakeholders are effectively engaged and agree on the time, quality and financial expectations.

• Expediting the delivery of the project through monitoring that steps are delivered on time, people are doing the required tasks appropriately, issues are addressed promptly, budgets are managed and the overall deadlines are met.

Effective planning of the project is a key step in ensuring a right first time and on time translation.

Manage risks and issues

Whilst effective planning is essential, thinks can go wrong and the project team need to address them as they happen. As a precursor to this, the project team should understand the risks and issues associated with the project.

(A simple definition: A risk is something that could go wrong. An issue is a risk that has happened!)

Having contingency plans in place for key risks and things that could go wrong will help ensure a successful project outcome.

In the next blog we will look at the third step – Prepare text for translation.

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

As outlined in our previous post on this subject, in this series of articles we are looking at a set of tips based around a ten step process to help you establish your translation capability.  The first set of tips are based around step 1 – defining your approach to translation: 

Translation is an important part of any business operation.  The process provides information to customers, suppliers, shareholders and regulators.  Errors can at minimum be embarrassing to the organisation and in the extreme can lead to sanctions and product recall.  It is therefore essential that a strategic approach is taken to the provision of translation capabilities within your organisation.  This needs to cover policies, processes and procedures, document creation and management, management of translation agencies and approval and use of texts.  Policies need to be complied with and management and in-country personnel need to buy-in to documentation processes 

Translation is a complex activity impacting many parts of the organisation and many different types of documents.  It is often a ‘hidden’ activity in many companies, who don’t realise this complexity or the business impact when things go wrong.  In light of this, it should be performed and managed by professionals of the domain to ensure a professional approach that assures and enhances corporate reputation. 

The preparation, review and approval of a translation takes time – a translator usually translates around 2500 words per day.  It is therefore important that individuals involved in the process are given appropriate time to perform the quality critical steps they undertake.  Moreover much of this activity may be performed outside your organisation by translation service providers.  These suppliers need to be appropriately selected, engaged and managed to ensure performance meets business requirements.  A partnership approach is recommended, involving the translation providers in the translation projects and process improvements you are undertaking. 

The use of glossaries and style guides can provide a level of standard for translations undertaken.  A company-wide glossary of English terms, that is vetted by management and reviewers, will help ensure that all teams agree on the core terminology that is unique to your organization. The glossary could include the following conventions that are used in your company: corporate/product nomenclature, abbreviations and acronyms, terms that remain in English (i.e., product names, copyright items, etc.), and “lingo” that should stay consistent across languages. 

A style guide explains the “voice” and tone that each language should have.  This assists in ensuring consistency of the style if translations in the same language are being undertaken by different teams across the organisation. 

Being able to speak a language does not guarantee being able to write effectively in that language.  In most cases your written command of a foreign language will be immediately recognisable as “foreign”.  Being bilingual is not a guarantee of being able to translate a document. It is a misconception that anyone who is bilingual will have fluency in writing or skill in translation.  If you want your organisation to appear professional you need to be served by a professional approach.  Moreover, in many cultures, awkward or sloppy language is not considered amusing and can be considered insulting 

Most lead translators have a minimum of 5 years of experience in translation. They either have a university degree, relevant experience in a specialised field of work, or equivalent professional qualifications.  All reputable translation companies would go through a strict vetting process before enlisting any translators and their work will be regularly monitored. Translators will only translate into their native language and will have experience in the industry they are translating for. 

Translation requirements can arise in many different parts of an organisation, but typically these are not coordinated centrally, but instead local teams undertake the activity in isolation, to local standards and processes and often creating a plethora of translations service providers. 

It is far more effective from a quality and consistency point of view to centralize language projects into a centralised coordinator role and outsourcing translation to rigorously selected and preferred suppliers. 

It would therefore be recommended to assign a translation coordinator who selects, assesses, communicates with and manages your translation providers and coordinates all translation projects of your company.  If you have a large spread of required languages, it is unlikely that one translation service provider would be able to meet all needs – they may rely on local subcontractors to support them, and you would need to ensure that these local subcontractors are appropriate for the task and effectively managed by the lead service provider.  This may drive you to a shortlist of preferred suppliers, in which case it will be necessary to ensure when people select a provider, they select on the right basis of competency, specialisations, languages, prices etc. 

A Document Management System will help with version control, effective QA and reviews, and promote re-use and consistency. It should be available for everyone involved with the process, whether inside or external to your company. 

In the next blog we will look at the second step – Initiate your project. 

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

As globalisation increases and companies reach customers in many more markets around the world, the need for accurate and comprehensive translations increases.   

Translation activity is an often forgotten back-room process.  It is rarely considered core to a company’s operations, but failure in the process results in incorrect information being provided to customers, suppliers, regulators or shareholders.  At minimum this is embarrassing and may not show the company in the best light.  However some errors can be significant, impacting the safety of the customer or agreements with regulators.  These can seriously damage the company’s reputation and lead to sanctions and fines. 

It is therefore essential that a company has a fit for purpose translation capability.  This should ensure that the processes, roles, suppliers and systems necessary to deliver a quality output are available across the organisation for anyone involved in translation activity. 

In this series of articles we are going to look at a series of tips to help you establish your translation capability.  It is based around a 10 step process as follows: 

  1. Define your approach to translation 

The activities you need to do in your organisation to set out how you will manage translations across the company 

  1. Initiate your project 

The steps you would take to start an individual  translation project and set the project up for success 

  1. Prepare text for translation 

Tips for how to make sure that the text you are supplying for translation is prepared to allow a high quality translation 

  1. Choose translation provider  

Tips to ensure that the translation provider you propose to use is fit for purpose 

  1. Translation Specifications 

How to establish a set of standards for working with your translation provider 

  1. Brief translation provider 

How you instruct the translation provider to undertake the project you want translated 

  1. Prepare translation 

The preparation of the translation at the translation provider 

  1. Review translation 

The quality assurance steps undertaken to make sure the translation is correct 

  1. Approve translation 

The formal approval of the translation 

  1. Securely store approved files and  build translation memory 

How to ensure effective document management and how to start building a library of standard phrases 

In the next blog we will look at the first step – defining your approach to translation. 

We hope you find this information useful.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work, so of you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

This year I once again had the pleasure of attending, chairing and presenting at the IQPC Pharmaceutical Packaging and Labelling Summit in Zurich on 18th and 19th June. Many thanks to Lucy Comer and the team at IQPC for organising the event.

I presented on the topic Managing Portfolio Complexity in Packaging – Dealing with Small Volume Products, looking at the growing challenge of complexity in packaging portfolios. As companies chase niche opportunities and products become more specialised, large volume packing runs are becoming increasingly rare. However, many pharmaceutical packaging facilities have been designed for higher volume product. Coping with portfolios dominated by small volume product significantly reduces operational efficiencies and drives a large hidden factory of support staff to maintain.

I reviewed some of the environmental factors causing this growth in portfolios and presented a three stage methodology to address the challenges of complexity. Firstly, the portfolio needs to be assessed and understood so that the characteristics and requirements of each SKU are clear. Secondly, sources of non-added value complexity need to be removed to standardise as much as possible. Thirdly, appropriate mechanisms, like postponement and late stage customisation, need to be introduced to provide the necessary complexity in a more effective manner. Finally, I reviewed the sorts of benefits in terms of efficiencies, lead times and costs savings that can be achieved by such a programme.

Other presentations from the event included:

The Role of Packaging and Labelling on Supply Chain Efficiency Prabir Das: Vice President – Packaging Development, Mylan

Prabir presented a broad overview of the interface between packaging and the supply chain. He talked about the commercial and environmental challenges facing packaging and how product characteristics impact packaging design and material selection. All of these issues should be addressed by the packaging system, which in turn should consider all of the requirements that need to be delivered by the packaging design. Prabir also talked about how packaging needs to protect the product, ensuring that the product is fit for use when it reaches the end-user. Finally, he looked at how technology will impact packaging in the future and what barriers will have to be overcome.

Evaluating the Use of Smart Packaging and Interaction with Smartphones Andrew Smith: Technical Packaging Director, GSK

Andrew presented on the use of smart packaging within the pharma industry. He discussed the benefits and opportunities presented by eLeaflets. Smartphone enabled leaflets permit the provision of enhanced product information, for example usage videos. Smartphones can also be used for alerts and compliance, security features and usage monitoring. This improves patient engagement and product security. Andrew reviewed the different types of technology that can be used as carriers to link to product information including tags, QR codes and barcodes. He highlighted the benefits and challenges of each technology and what potential application scenarios might occur.

Solutions to Optimise Your End-to-End Artwork Process Suzanne Ivory: Chief Operating Officer, Perigord

Suzanne presented on the challenges facing pharmaceutical artwork, particularly the impact on patient safety. She highlighted the need for clear processes with detailed instructions to ensure the desirable right-first-time outcome. The implementation of a comprehensive Quality Management System and the underpinning Artwork Management System are key capabilities to support the creation of correct artwork. She also discussed how the introduction of appropriate measures drives performance through focusing on addressing performance deviations. Finally, Suzanne discussed the areas of new technology emerging that will impact artwork processes and capabilities.

Ensure a Return on Your Investment by Implementing E-Labelling into Pre-exiting, Multi-functional Barcodes Tatjana Pathare: Senior Artworks and Regulations Specialist within the Serialisation Project, Roche and Christian Hay: Senior Consultant – Healthcare, GS1

Tatjana and Christian presented on the use of the serialisation barcode to provide a patient leaflet. They highlighted the opportunity of using GS1 Digital Link as the carrier for accessing the eLeaflet as it is an open standard platform. GS1 are now undertaking some pilots to develop this capability. Christian then followed up with a discussion on the ISO standard that is being drafted to support this use of the supply chain identifier to access digital information.

Digital Maturity Model for Packaging: Digitise, Automate and Connect in Pharma Simon Cavanaugh: Senior Account Executive – Global Business Group, ESKO and Steven Brookes: Solution Consultant, ESKO

Simon and Steve presented on the journey companies undertake to manage their digital assets in a comprehensive manner. As the volume of digital assets grows in a company, capabilities also need to evolve to manage assets effectively. ESKO has developed a roadmap tool to help companies with this journey. Simon also explained some of the different use cases they have witnessed for artwork introduction and reasons behind these process variations. Finally, Simon covered some of the other learnings ESKO have witnessed in client implementations, particularly around regulatory processes.

Maximise your Brand Engagement with Patient-centric Packaging and Understand How it Improves Patient Lives Gabriele Iannizzotto: Chairman, HCPC Europe

Gabriele presented on the work carried out by HCPC Europe and the annual Columbus Award for patient safety packaging. He discussed some of the numerous issues facing patients, which can be resolved through improved packaging design. He then introduced some of the previous winners of the Columbus Award demonstrating some of the patient safety / adherence features they included.

What’s Holding Us Back? Identify your Supply Chain Bottlenecks and Risks Jeffrey Hardy: Director General, TRACIT and Suriya Prabha Padmanaabhan: Director of Programs, TRACIT

Jeff and Suriya led a discussion on the issues attendees are witnessing with illicit trade across their supply chains. They looked at each step of the supply chain defining key issues, causes and impacts. This is part of a wider survey they are undertaking across many industry sectors. The outcomes will be captured in a cross-functional business report on illicit trade.

Challenges for Global Pharma Companies to Implement Anti-counterfeit Strategy for Russian Track & Trace Regulation Dr Ettore Cucchetti: Chief Executive Officer, ACG

Ettore presented on the development of secure supply chains across various industry sectors and territories. He compared the maturity of security activities in life sciences against other sectors and examined how capabilities are likely to develop in the life sciences sector. Ettore also discussed each of the elements required for a full product traceability solution.

Putting Patient Safety at the Heart of FMD Leyla Hannbeck: Chief Pharmacist & Director of Pharmacy, National Pharmacy Association

Leyla presented on the patient safety issues associated with packaging and FMD, as witnessed in pharmacies. In particular, she highlighted the significant amounts of 'look-alike, sound-alike' errors that happen and how improved packaging design could alleviate these. She presented a number of case studies highlighting the issues where dispensing errors had occurred. Leyla also discussed the impact of FMD on community pharmacies and the preparation activities that have been undertaken to date.

Serialisation and the Future of Hospital Pharmacy Robert Moss: Director of Professional Development, European Association of Hospital Pharmacists

Robert presented on the impact of serialisation and other technological developments on hospital pharmacies. He discussed the problem of identifying the point of authentication in a hospital pharmacy. There are a number of points within the hospital environment where is could be carried out from goods receipt to patient use and each presents challenges. Regarding other technological developments, Robert explained how aggregation would have a significant benefit to hospitals by avoiding having to scan each pack in a case. Scannable single dose primary pack barcoding provides significant patient safety benefits, and EAHP have been advocating this for a number of years. Finally, Robert showed some of the automated drug dispensing and delivery equipment that is being developed.

Fulfilling the Needs of the Local Market with Need-based Packaging Innovation Rajesh Mishra: Associate Director – Packaging Development, Abbott

Rajesh presented on the challenge of designing products to meet local market needs. Focusing on India, he highlighted some of the issues created in a market that is high volume but low cost, with a very high degree of competition. In this environment, needs-based innovation is key to defining how to differentiate your product. Rajesh showed a few examples of packaging design that were developed to meet these challenges. He highlighted a key learning which was making sure that the design of the pack or device was easy to understand and use across many different demographic groups.

EU MDR and its Implications for Labelling and Artwork Karolina Komposh: Labelling and Artwork Manager, Croma-Pharma

Karolina presented on the new Medical Device Regulations. She provided an overview of the regulations, some of the major changes that have been introduced and the timelines to be achieved. She then explained some of the issues that are being discussed between industry and the regulators. As can be expected by such a large piece of legislation, there are many details that need to be further worked to develop practical solutions and time pressures are making these issues more acute.

End-to-End Solution for Managing Labelling and Packaging Artwork Ray Collia: Senior Account Executive, Loftware

Ray presented a clinical trials artwork case study on an implementation undertaken by Loftware. He outlined some of the challenges in clinical trials that can impact the development of clinical trial artwork. He also gave an overview of the business issues that the case study company were wanting to address. He highlighted the benefits that can be delivered through a suitable labelling and artwork system and explained key features of the Loftware system.

Preparing for the Worst : Negotiating with Sites That Have Not Prepared for FMD and Anticipating Brexit Huda Awidi, Regional Regulatory Affairs Manager – Labelling & Artworks – Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Pakistan, Mundipharma

Huda presented on the impact of Brexit and FMD on Middle Eastern / African countries. This is a complex range of countries with many local requirements. She covered the actions being taken to prepare for potential Brexit scenarios which will impact many things including, for example, product licenses due to changes to sites of release. Huda also discussed the implementation of FMD. There is a strong pull in the countries she represents for a serialisation solution, due to the levels of counterfeit product, but countries are at different levels of development. Products are supplied from 60 CMOs so agreeing processes and procedures is difficult. As some countries are implemented and some are not it has also made it difficult to share packs. Finally, Huda explained the methodology they have used to implement serialisation across the region and highlighted key learnings from their implementation.

Morning Workshop: From Manufacture to Use: Overcome the Challenges Encountered during the Three Stages of the Packaging Lifecycle Prabir Das: Vice President – Packaging Development, Mylan

Interactive Workshop: Moving Beyond Compliance – Transitioning from Serialisation to Securitisation Mark Willis: MDR and Compliance, Johnson and Johnson

In addition to the presentations by the speakers above, Prabir and Mark held workshop sessions on the Packaging Lifecycle and Transitioning beyond Serialisation respectively.

It was a pleasure to chair such an informative and engaging two day event, tackling a wide breadth of topics, many of which are constantly evolving as the Pharma Packaging and Labelling landscape responds to many wider industry changes. Thank you to all the speakers and attendees for making a productive and enjoyable session. I look forward to meeting again next year.

Be4ward is a niche consultancy company helping pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies and their supply base improve their serialisation, labelling and artwork capabilities. We help clients define the most efficient business processes, organisation design and, being completely independent, help them select and implement the most appropriate service providers and IT systems to meet their needs. Be4ward helps these companies improve patient safety and drive additional value from their product range.

Should you have any questions or would simply like to request a copy of my booklets, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly on my email [email protected]

For more information on our areas of expertise, go to our free download section.

Healthcare Packaging recently published this great article stressing the importance of excellent packaging, labelling and artwork consistency across both physical and digital markets. Did you know that following a diagnosis, 84% of patients turn to an online search to learn more about their treatment options?

To read it, please click here.

We hope you find this article interesting.  We are always searching for ways to improve our work and would welcome any feedback from you. Please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].