How long does it take to do Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA)? Thread poster: Sara Marques
|
|---|
Sara Marques
Portugal
Local time: 23:03
Member (2012)
Portuguese to Spanish
+ ...
Hi everyone,
Recently I was asked to present a proposal that included Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA). This is something I've never worked with and have been gathering information about.
One thing I'm not sure about is how long does it take. I know this probably varies according to the project and model we use, but I just wanted to get an idea of, on average, how long it would take to apply this process to a translation project of 1000 words, for example.
Also, if you... See more Hi everyone,
Recently I was asked to present a proposal that included Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA). This is something I've never worked with and have been gathering information about.
One thing I'm not sure about is how long does it take. I know this probably varies according to the project and model we use, but I just wanted to get an idea of, on average, how long it would take to apply this process to a translation project of 1000 words, for example.
Also, if you know of any online courses or resources about LQA, I would really appreciate to know them!
Thank you so much in advance! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:03
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Sara Marques wrote:
Hi everyone,
Recently I was asked to present a proposal that included Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA). This is something I've never worked with and have been gathering information about.
One thing I'm not sure about is how long does it take. I know this probably varies according to the project and model we use, but I just wanted to get an idea of, on average, how long it would take to apply this process to a translation project of 1000 words, for example.
Also, if you know of any online courses or resources about LQA, I would really appreciate to know them!
Thank you so much in advance!
In plain English, Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA) simply means checking the translation.
I wish the charlatans who infect the translation industry would stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes by breaking up the translation process into separate parts and then giving each part a deliberately confusing name - and even an acronym (because an acronym makes it seem very technical and impressive).
All as an excuse to pay less.
Rant over.
[Edited at 2022-08-03 10:31 GMT]
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:03
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| I think it's more than that. | Aug 3, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
In plain English, Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA) simply means checking the translation.
If I'm not mistaken it can be more than that. I think it's also used to describe the job of checking the source text before the translation (checking for errors, ambiguities and other possible problems which may slow down the translation process itself).
I always run away from these types of tasks.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:03
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| It's all part of the job | Aug 3, 2022 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
... I think it's also used to describe the job of checking the source text before the translation (checking for errors, ambiguities and other possible problems which may slow down the translation process itself).
Every translator does that, every time. But not as a separate task. It can't be done as a separate task.
Every translator knows this.
[Edited at 2022-08-03 11:02 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:03
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Tom in London wrote:
Every translator does that, every time. But not as a separate task. It can't be done as a separate task.
Every translator knows this.
I agree. That's why I don't accept those job offers (besides the fact that scanning a text you won't be translating for errors or quality issues must be utterly boring).
| | | | | LQA tasks can vary | Aug 3, 2022 |
A complete LQA is where you fill in a table specifying every significant error made by the translator (if we're talking about translation-related LQA) and ideally also provide your own versions for translating the same passages; this tends to take a long time, about as much as it would take to translate the same text yourself (unless the translation is good, which is normally not the case with translations that end up being reviewed by a LQA specialist). A simplified LQA is where you browse thro... See more A complete LQA is where you fill in a table specifying every significant error made by the translator (if we're talking about translation-related LQA) and ideally also provide your own versions for translating the same passages; this tends to take a long time, about as much as it would take to translate the same text yourself (unless the translation is good, which is normally not the case with translations that end up being reviewed by a LQA specialist). A simplified LQA is where you browse through the translation and write a review highlighting some of the errors and summarizing your opinion. This usually takes me about half an hour regardless of the translation volume (one caveat being I'm a pretty skilled reviewer, so I can spot translation errors quickly and write about them in a convincing way) ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 23:03
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Tom in London wrote:
Every translator does that, every time. But not as a separate task. It can't be done as a separate task.
Every translator knows this.
[Edited at 2022-08-03 11:02 GMT]
I think Tom said it all.
LQA involves verifying the accuracy of a translation for its cultural precision, linguistic phrasing, terminology, and so on.
It is not a separate task of just adding human feedback to documents and grade the translations, as many agencies might say. It's one of the tasks of each translator.
You have LQA at your disposal in many CAT tools, and it's a very simple and friendly feature to use.
Often, this type of tasks comes "masked" only to be underpaid, and like Lieven, I also run away from it.
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 00:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Sara Marques wrote:
Recently I was asked to present a proposal that included Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA).
The term LQA is used by different agencies to mean different things. In my experience, it can mean either of the following:
1. Reviewing a file and writing the edits to an Excel file.
2. Ordinary, normal revision (what others call "proofreading" or "editing").
3. Checking a CAT tool's QA report for false positives.
In my experience, meaning #1 above is what is most commonly meant by "LQA". It works like this:
You review a file or a sample from a file (e.g. 1000 words), then you write the errors to an Excel file (e.g. the source text sentence, the original target text, and the revised/suggested target text), and then you categorize each error by type and severity, and sometimes you also writing an explanatory comment. I believe it is assumed that you will add revisions to the Excel file as you go along (instead of all at the same time at the end), so that you don't exceed the requested time limit.
Then, this Excel file is shared with the translator, who will do his best to disagree with as many of your edits as possible (because if he doesn't, his translation's "score" is too low and that may cause his translation to be rejected), and then you or someone else will "arbitrate" the revisions that the translator did not agree with (i.e. will make a final decision about it). The fact that the translator will be eager to reject your revisions also means that you should limit yourself to revisions that you are certain you'll win an argument over in case a third linguist joins the fray.
Naturally, all of these extra steps take time. The more errors there are, the more time it takes. Often, clients expect you to review the entire file or sample of 1000 words in 1 hour. Or, some clients ask you to review "up to 1000 words" but take no more than 1 hour. An hour seems to be how much you'd be paid for either way.
expressisverbis wrote:
LQA involves verifying the accuracy of a translation for its cultural precision, linguistic phrasing, terminology, and so on. ... It is not a separate task of just adding human feedback to documents and grade the translations, as many agencies might say. ... You have LQA at your disposal in many CAT tools, and it's a very simple and friendly feature to use.
One or two of my clients have used the term "LQA" to mean simply doing a revision of a file. Most of my clients use the term "LQA" to mean what I wrote above. But you're right, this third way of using the term "LQA" also exists, where the translator is asked to check the "QA" report that is generated by a CAT tool.
Such "QA" features in CAT tools perform automated checks on a translation, checking for things like mismatched numbers and punctuation (and sometimes also terminology and spelling), and outputs a report. Then the translator must decide in each case whether it is a "false" or "true" positive, and the translator is sometimes asked to write comments next to the flagged issues. The translator is often asked to update the translation as well. However, this type of "LQA" is normally part of a translation task -- i.e. you are the translator yourself, and the agency is asking you to check the QA report about your own translation yourself. This type of "LQA" is also generally unpaid (i.e. included in the translation rate).
[Edited at 2022-08-03 13:17 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 00:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| The original LQA | Aug 3, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
I wish the charlatans who infect the translation industry would stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes by ... giving each part a deliberately confusing name - and even an acronym (because an acronym makes it seem very technical and impressive).
The term "LQA" originally referred to a very specific type of revision that was designed by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA). See here (about halfway down the page).
It was an attempt to make revisions more "scientific" and to make it more reliable to compare translations even though they were done by different translators and proofread by different proofreaders. It achieves this by classifying specific types of errors and assigning penalty weights to each, so that a final "score" could be achieved. The idea was then that a certain minimum score would be expected of a translation to consider it an acceptable translation.
Naturally, different proofreaders proofread differently, but forcing a proofreader to categorise each error and assigning a severity to it does help weed out unnecessary edits (you know, the types of edits that some proofreaders make that aren't really "errors" but simply their personal preferences that they are trying to apply to the file).
(This is also what I described in #1 in the post above.) I applaud LISA for designing this system, but unfortunately agencies always want to pay as little as possible for revision, and therefore this type of LQA tends to be a lot of work (a lot of elbow & wrist work) for very little money.
I assume once the acronym became popular, different agencies started using it for different meanings that are all vaguely related to revision.
| | | | Jo Macdonald
Spain
Local time: 00:03
Italian to English
+ ...
If they mean checking source against translation against back translation to make sure the translation works I charge my hourly rate for revision.
| | | | | It really depends | Aug 26, 2022 |
I think the time to do that also depend on the field you do and the level you are in so there are no exact answer for your question.
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » How long does it take to do Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA)? | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
