Linguistic Corner: Mad as a Hatter

We may perceive translation in various ways – it may be good, bad, correct, incorrect, fluent, awkward, poetic, mechanical and so on – but it is easy to forget that translation is actually an asset. To be more precise, our painstakingly and successfully localized materials for specific markets are assets simply by virtue of their function – they generate profit, reduce expenses and improve sales.

Editable file is one of the language industry’s magic phrases that activates certain powers such as cost/time optimization. The reason is simple – editable files can be easily imported in CAT tools and thus enable the localization teams to apply the carefully developed processes of linguistic and technical adaptation, quality control and optional DTP. Simply put – there is no localization process and reliable quality control without the CAT software and CAT software can only be used with editable files.

Every serious language service provider has a quality management system in place that may include various steps depending on the project requirements. However, these quality management systems are always built around the two major phases of translation/localization project – translation and revision (also known as bilingual editing) that are performed by two individual linguists or linguist teams.