Translation Services Standards

A translator also like any supplier of goods or services must bear ethical and legal obligations towards his company or employer. As such standards have been developed to spell out their mutual duties for the protection of both parties. As it is a known fact that translation and localization is a deregulated industry, in which standards are developed on its own by the service provider or by direct or end customers. The basic objective of a translation company is to achieve the translation or localization of a product with the highest possible quality and for all translators, quality implies "customer satisfaction".

Standard bodies
Codes for all types of services are now maintained by standardization organizations.

• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO): The International Organization for Standardization is one such organization involved in the development of standardization and related activities in the world to help the international exchange of goods and services. The ISO 9000 series belong to these standards.
  
  
• The European Quality Standard for Translation Services (EN): The European Quality Standard for Translation Services backed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) was formed to cover the process and the requirements that makes the base for the provision of high quality professional translation services. Though the organization does not consider the translation process only, but also all of the other steps that are required in the supply of the service in question. One of the key aspects of this is to assure quality and how its norms are followed. This standard was formed exclusive to translation, that is, it cannot be applied to any other field of activity.
  
  
• The American translation-services standard (ASTM): Formed by a diverse group of representatives of the U.S. translation industry for setting national translation standards.

Types of Standards in Translation Services
As the interests in quality management began to increase, specific quality standards have been developed for translation services, which includes

• The German DIN 2345: It covers translation services, the working procedures to be used, the contracts for supplying the services. This is considered to be one of the most complete of all of the existing standards. No certification is required.
  
  
• The Italian UNI 10574: The Italian UNI 10574 Standard puts forward the service requirements and the activities and processes to be performed by companies that offer translation and interpreting.
  
  
• The Austrian Önorm D 1200: The standard covers translation and interpreting services. It also covers the requirements for offering the services, as well as for the services themselves.
  
  
• The Austrain Önorm D 1201: The standard covers translation and interpreting services in accordance to the contracts that covers these services.
  
  
• The Dutch Taalmerk Standard: It covers translation services in general.
  
  
• The international ISO 12616: Standard manages terminography that applies to translation. Its task is to gather and register terminology data to help in translation tasks.
  
  
• ASTM F2575-06: The standard provides a platform for customers and translation companies to agree on the specific requirements of a translation project. It does not provide specific criteria for translation or project quality but states parameters that should be considered before beginning a translation project.
  
  
• EN 15038: This standard went aims to define basic requirements for language-service providers, unify the terminology used in the translation field, and create a platform for the interaction of customers and translation companies in terms of their rights and obligations. It also defines certain services, besides translation, that may be offered by language-service providers.
  
  

What standard are required for the translation industry?
To maintain quality standards by most translation providers, the following must be considered.

• More professional cooperation between translators and translation companies
• Issue of certification can see the standard as a means which ensures quality delivered by the language service provider.
• Terminological standardization in the industry.
• It is a reference to academic programs.
• More awareness and transparency in the offering of service.
• Clear relationship between customer and translator or translation provider.
• Clear understanding of the tasks of a translation service
• High-quality translation services
• End-user satisfaction