The ways of “Quality” for Translation Services
Quality is a very commonly-used word in our business. But when it comes to quantifying such a qualitative word, where can you begin? At Lingo24, we believe in being transparent about everything that contributes towards the quality of our work, so we’re opening up the doors and letting you have a nose around what we do. Off we go…
A no-brainer. For us this is essential as it shows recognition of an independent and trusted body of our processes, and we have the certification to prove it.
These guys are sticklers for detail, and we love them for it. They are on hand to deal with any quality concerns raised by our clients as soon as they arise, and aim to resolve them as soon possible. They also implement improvement strategies so that such issues don’t occur again, and liaise with all departments to ensure we all meet the agreed standards. And we know what will happen if we don’t…
Did someone say “best translators”? At Lingo24, as a minimum requirement all our translators will:
• Have at least three years’ experience as a professional translator;
• Hold a professional translation qualification;
• Be official members of professional translators’ bodies such as the ATA in the US, the ITI/IOL in the UK, or the equivalent institution in their local country; and
• Only translate into their native tongue from another language in which they are fluent.
And that’s just the beginning. Where we recruit subject specialists (i.e. those with expertise in areas such as medicine, technology or marketing), we ask them to complete specific tests to check their knowledge really is up to scratch.
Because we’re a friendly bunch, for the majority of our service levels, translators work in teams.
One professional translator carries out the initial translation and a second translator, with equivalent experience and qualifications, will review and edit this initial translation. As much as we have every faith in the quality of our translators, we know that there’s often nothing better than a second pair of eyes to review complex work.
Just like the head teacher at school, we have eyes and ears everywhere. We grade all translators on the jobs they complete, combining feedback from clients and other translators as well. Our team of language combination controllers ranks translators on elements of their work, including errors and the number of changes made by clients. Nothing gets past us.
We’re obsessive about quality, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be too. Our proprietary Computer Aided Translation (CAT) tool, Coach, provides an unprecedented level of quality checks for translation projects, which can be requested for one-off projects, or made mandatory for all jobs. Ask us about them all. We’ve got loads.
Net promoter score
This chart shows our net promoter scores (NPS) over the last three years. We calculate this score by working out the percentage of our clients who would actively promote us, less those who wouldn’t. We track this via client surveys every six months, and we’ll share the results with you each and every time we calculate them.