Translation Assessment Criteria

QUESTION: How is it possible to measure translation quality?

When measuring translation quality, we really measure the incidence of various types of errors and
defects in the translated material errors of meaning errors of form errors of compliance
We define a good translation as one in which no (or few) errors are made!
QUESTION: What ma"es a good evaluator?
#ust be able to be as ob$ective as possible
#ust be able to distinguish between factual, tangible errors and stylistic preferences
How do you distinguish between errors and stylistic preferences?
%t is necessary to establish clear rules that define what is an error and what is not an error! The evaluator
has to answer the following three questions:
Is it grammatically correct?
Is the translation accurate?
Is the translation compliant with the glossary, style guide, guidelines, and client instructions?
%f the answer to these questions is &'es(, it means that it is not an error!
The type of error) errors should be categori*ed as:
Errors of Meaning Errors of Form Errors of Compliance
Errors of Meaning %f the meaning of the translation is different than the meaning of the +,
Errors of Form %f the translations contains an error of grammar, spelling, or other formal error that
does not otherwise change the meaning of the translation with respect to the +,
Errors of Compliance %f the translation, even though meaning and form are correct, does not
conform to the instructions received, style guide, preferred terminology, or other customer-specified
requirement!
QUESTION What must the students ta"e care in their translations as the most important factor?
The students must consider grammatical points, word equivalents, and cultural differences between the +,
and T,!
Applying the necessary shifts .additions, deletions, and substitutions/ is acceptable in translation!
The students must also ta"e care of register, genre, and style in the +T!
!endering "he same message The translator must try to render the same message of the +, into the
T, in translations! Accuracy in rendering the e0act message from +, into T, in translation
gramma"ical poin"s The translator has to choose the word equivalents and the grammatical points
which are close to ones in the +T and acceptable in the T,! This is based on the fact that the
translator1s goal should be to reproduce in the receptor language a te0t which communicates the same
message as the +, but using the natural grammatical and le0ical choices in the receptor language!
#e$icon +ince each l-ge has its own division of the le0icon into classes such as nouns, verbs,
ad$ectives, etc!, it is not uncommon to translate a noun in one l-ge into a verb in another l-ge or vice-
versa! The important point is not to apply the shifts everywhere in translation but recogni*e the situation
and use the shifts where it is necessary .i!e! where there is no proper equivalent part of speech for the
word in the T,/!
regis"er and genre of "he "e$" Attending to the register and genre of the te0ts is important because in
some situations, mistranslating a word or having an ungrammatical element in the translation does not
necessarily ruin the whole translation, but a failure to recogni*e either register, or genre will affect the
whole te0t!
O%ser&ing "he c'l"'res 2bserving the cultures of the +, or the T, in translation is a controversial
issue! There is no agreement among researchers in this area!
O%ser&ing "he c'l"'res +ome believe that rendering the e0act message of the +T to the TT, a
translator must pay attention to the +, culture and translate the te0t e0actly according to it! To this
group, being loyal to author1s culture is more important than that of reader1s culture!
O%ser&ing "he c'l"'res 2n the other hand, some researchers believe that because the cultures are
different, a translator must translate according to the T, culture even if some changes occur!
Translators must pay attention to the differences between +, and T, cultures in their translations and
translate the te0t according to the T, culture to ma"e a translated te0t clear to the readers!
Assess the referen"ial and pragma"ic acc'rac( of "he "ransla"ion by the translator3s standards! %f the
purpose of the te0t is to sell something, to persuade, to prohibit, to e0press feeling through the facts
and the ideas, to please or to instruct, then this purpose is the "eystone of the invariance, which
changes from te0t to te0t!
4urther, you assess the translation also as a piece of writing, independently of its original: if this is an
3anonymous non-individual te0t, informative or persuasive, you e0pect it to be written in a natural
manner - neat, elegant and agreeable!
%f the te0t is personal and authoritative, you have to assess how well the translator has captured the
idiolect of the original, no matter whether it is cliched, natural or innovative!
4inally, in the case of a serious te0t, say a novel, a poem, or an important boo" you assess the wor"3s
potential importance within the T, culture!
Was it in fact worth translating?
What "ind of influence will it have on the language, the literature, the ideas in its new milieu?