Improving Translation Quality with Phrase

Improving translation quality is key to a successful global business. The tools that product, translation, or localization managers can use today have made huge leaps towards effective translation quality management. With in-context previews on the user interface, advanced revision options, and term base building capacities, you're able to guarantee that all translation and localization efforts can be leveraged for upcoming products and projects. You are given a complete overview of each step of the process and can easily communicate with translators and reviewers for clarification. This not does only provide for fewer headaches and a clear context but also prevents costly fixes along the way.

Key steps for quality assurance before assigning translations in Phrase

Phrase offers a variety of functions that help localization or translation project managers give the most adequate and necessary information to translators. To establish your translation quality standards right from the start and provide technical documentation for your target languages, you can employ various best practices underpinned by a blend of strong features in Phrase:

• Make use of translation memories (this ensures leveraging previously translated content for the new content)
• Create a term base (this ensures consistency in using terminology)
• Upload a style guide (for instructions with regards to tone, cultural differences, and formatting)
• Add a briefing for the specific job (for additional information you deem valuable for the best localization quality)
• Add descriptions or screenshots to keys/segments (boosts quality management for the target language)
• If applicable, insert placeholders into keys/segments for variables (leverage matches to cut costs for future translations)

With all of the above, you provide the most essential information for your translators and streamline your project management. In taking advantage of these different functions, communication, later on, will have reference points and most likely be reduced in comparison to translation management that involves standard CAT tools and other text processing software unable to offer the same background information.

Quality management during the translation and revision process

You have extensively been preparing your project and added all necessary information as well as documentation to ensure smooth sailing throughout the translation and revision process. Now it is time to assign translators for your target language and point them towards the best practices in using Phrase for optimum results.

At this point, you should make sure to explain and actively promote two of the main quality assurance features offered throughout the workflow. Phrase includes a browser-based in-context editor for website localization and a screenshot feature for all content translations. Both will improve contextualization, boost productivity and efficiency, and reduce overall time spent and costs in the long run.

Using the in-context editor for the quality management process

Brace yourself for a convenient and easy-to-use platform for localization that prevents mishaps and allows for direct communication between translators, product managers, and product developers. This is not only rooted in the way the user interface has been built. The workflow for translators, proofreaders, and revisors has also been greatly enhanced through Phrase’s in-context editor.

The editor provides a real-time preview on your website and allows for extra context on top of the description for keys. This means that translators, UX designers, and the revision team will all have the possibility to test translations and alternatives live directly in the browser. No more emailing about what has been meant exactly and no more lengthy back-and-forths until the context has been finally understood.

The in-context editor is a huge time and cost saver. It will revolutionize your website translations and guarantee the final results are appropriate for the target market. Encourage your translators to use it frequently and to all its extent—it will give them the feeling of having been heard.

More context and more clarity with screenshots for individual keys

Not every translation or localization is dealing with websites. However, every high-quality translation and flawless localization requires as much context for the translators and reviewers as possible. Especially when dealing with software localization and multiple string actualizations, screenshots certainly add clarity and comprehensive information regarding the context. And those screenshots can have a variety of origins.

Phrase allows different screenshot applications:

• New keys have been created and you now upload and link those screenshots to the keys to provide context for the best translation.
• A translator or reviewer requested additional information, so you add a screenshot to an individual key for that matter.
• You can upload a screenshot or image file and based on that upload create a new key.
• Designers push content directly from Sketch to Phrase via the Sketch integration. New keys are created and screenshots of the Sketch artboard are attached automatically.

Wrapping it up: quality assurance during revision and iteration

The translation has been completed, which you can see in its status. At this point, one of the main steps in quality assurance will follow—the review. The review job is a separate assignment. Phrase allows for 3 different statuses of the translation job: “Translated,” “Reviewed,” and “Completed.”

Both the in-context editor and the screenshot feature are highly recommended for reviews and iterations to ensure consistency and accuracy in the long run. The reviewer should additionally read all provided briefs and documentation, just like the translator, to keep updated on preferred style, terminology, and previously established term base items. If possible, the reviewer should furthermore add terms to the term base when mistranslations are spotted. This way, your term base and translation memory are well kept and you ensure your base for any following translation projects.

Whereas it is highly recommended to carry out the review directly on the platform using the comment, changes, and review functions respectively, it may become necessary to export the file for a thorough review using different tools, such as standard CAT tools. In this case, you or the project manager can export the translated file, process it with different revision tools available, and then proceed to re-upload the reviewed file.

The download of reviewed or un-reviewed files is configurable for the project manager. This means that you can work with different versions of translations during iterations, while updates and new translations are handled by the translators simultaneously. Phrase focuses on supporting agile work environments and thus designed the functionalities adhering to those principles. Get in touch with our specialists today to learn more about our solutions.