Hopefully, you’ve read Part I. Here is Part II of our blog series on common translation industry terms. It’s time to pick up where we left off!

MACHINE TRANSLATION (MT)

Machine Translation (MT for short) is translation done entirely by a machine.

PROJECT MANAGER (PM)

A project manager is one who coordinates and manages the project from start to finish on the production side. They are tasked with prepping files for translation, placing projects with the appropriate linguists, ensuring all necessary steps are followed (including quality assurance) and that deliverables are on time.

PROOFREADING

The third letter in the Translation Editing and Proofreading (TEP) acronym. Proofreading is the final stage. This is a review of the target text. A proofreader combs over this text to check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. They look at word choice and phrasing.  An LSP can also proofread content performed by another LSP or a different translator to determine if it is accurate.

QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA)

There are quite a few abbreviations in the language translation industry. The QA process is designed to ensure translation quality by following a process instituted by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA).

REPETITIONS

When using translation memory, a repetition matches a previously translated segment, but must be reviewed for its use in-context. This is typically billed at a discounted rate.

SAE J2450

Society of Automotive Engineers standardization of automotive terminology (SAE J2570) is a metric that evaluates translation quality.

SEGMENTS

Segments are sentence-like units that are stored in your translation memory.

SOURCE FILE

A source file is the document in its original form (Word document, Excel file, InDesign files) versus a generated file (PDF, scanned document, JPEG). A source file is preferred for localization since it is editable.

STYLE GUIDE

A style guide is a document or a template that provides items such as correct style, grammar, and numeric formats to ensure consistency with translated content. A style guide also lists rules such as fonts, font sizes, margins, spacing, etc.

SUBTITLING

Subtitles are text versions of dialog that is narrated on the screen. A .SRT file is the most basic of all subtitle formats.

TEP

This acronym stands for Translation, Editing and Proofreading – a three step process that ensures premium quality of your translated content.

TEXT EXTRACT

Text extract (TE for short) is the process where text is pulled from a source file for translation (and use) by a linguist.

TRANSCREATION

Simply put, it is a fusion of the words “translation” and “creation.” Content is created and adapted for a target audience rather than just simply translating existing content. Transcreation is often associated with marketing.

TRANSCRIPTION

Transcription involves converting your audio content to written form.

TRANSLATION MEMORY (TM)

Your translation memory is a database of previously translated segments. It is used to leverage consistency and cost savings over time. (We touch on this more in a previous post.)

VOICE OVER

Voice over is the narration of text in a film, documentary, or another type of audio-visual media. Voice over can be done in English or in any language based on a script.

WORD COUNT

Word count means the total number of words in a project. Translation is typically charged on a per word rate, therefore, the overall word count affects the overall cost of each project.

XLIFF

XLIFF stands for XML Localisation Interchange File Format. If you are exchanging data in an XML format, XLIFF files are the preferred way to go!

XML

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents that is readable by both humans and machines.