In-Country Review (ICR) is an important quality step during the translation and localization process. In short, ICR is a client-side review of the translation where the client’s subject matter experts ensure that all terminology is correct and that everything is appropriate and applicable for the target audience. If you’re regularly using translation services, it’s likely that you have employees and distributors who speak your target language (whether they’re actually “in-country” or simply speak the language).
These people can be a great resource throughout the translation and localization process, as they can offer their unique subject-matter expertise. If you have some sort of review process in place that involves your in-country contacts, that’s a great first step toward improving the overall quality of your translated content. However, if your translation vendor isn’t part of your ICR process, you’re missing out on some added value.
Does this sound familiar?
Many times, an ICR process in its most basic form begins after receiving the final, formatted version of the translated content back from the vendor. Then, the designated reviewer looks everything over and implements changes. The company receives the edits back from their reviewer, trusts that everything is now perfect, and distributes the content. Does this process sound familiar? If so, you may want to consider ways in which it could be improved.
Your translation vendor wants to help
When you involve your translation vendor in your review process, you can improve quality and efficiency, and even enhance your future projects. With a formalized In-Country Review process, your vendor will usually deliver a preliminary version of the translation prior to final formatting. Your reviewers will look everything over and provide feedback. Then, a qualified linguist will review the feedback to make sure that everything makes sense, and implement any needed changes. Any changes that are in question are reviewed with you, the client, to make sure that the right changes are being made. Approved changes are saved for reference on future projects. After all changes are implemented, final formatting is completed and you receive a final, approved version for distribution.
How can this improve my quality?
The first thing to remember is that while your reviewer is an excellent subject matter resource, they may not be a professional linguist. It’s also likely that reviewing translations is not your chosen reviewer’s primary responsibility. While they are adjusting needed terminology, there is a chance that they may introduce some spelling or grammatical errors to the translation. If they’re very busy and have to complete the review step quickly, the likelihood of small errors increases. Having a linguist review all changes means that you can have the best of both worlds – the valuable subject matter expertise of your reviewer, as well as the skills of a professional linguist. Don’t forget that if your vendor is aware of the terminology chosen by your reviewers, they will then be able to use it for future projects! In this way, quality can be increased for the future each time a review step is completed.
How will this improve my efficiency?
Translation Memory technology can save time and cost. You can learn more about it here. By including your vendor in the review process, your translation memory can be updated according to reviewer feedback. The time and cost savings from translation memory for future translations will add up over time and increase with each project. I mentioned that if your translation vendor is aware of your chosen terms, then quality and consistency can be increased. This can also improve efficiency in both future translations and future review steps. If the linguist working on your project already knows the terms that your reviewer prefers, they can translate these more quickly.
Then, when it’s time for ICR, your reviewer will have to make fewer changes, thereby completing the review step sooner. Efficiency is also important during the review process itself. It’s likely that your reviewer has a lot of other responsibilities and is perhaps helping with the review in their spare time. So by making the process quick and easy from the reviewer’s perspective, they will be more likely to offer their valuable input in the future. If you believe your process could be more efficient, you should evaluate your options with your translation services vendor. Part 2 of this blog discusses how Language Intelligence’s intellireview™ tool can make your review process quick, pain-free, and highly effective.