Control in Translation
Systems and Tools for Consistency and Organizational Cohesion
Transcript
Review: What are the qualities of strong translation?
Readability
Accuracy
Adequacy
- Degree of Specification Alignment
Acceptability
- Degree of Norms and Conventions
Usability
Remember from Chapter 7 (1.5)
Specifications support control and consistency.
Controlled Language
A rule-based system that restricts lexicon, grammar, and style to improve clarity and translatability, especially for machine translation (MT).
Lexical
- Use only those forms of the verb that are listed in the dictionary
- Keep to the approved meaning of the word in the Dictionary. Do not use the word with any other meaning.
Syntactic
Basic Rules
- Do not make noun clusters of more than three nouns
- The emergency shutdown system activation procedure documentation needs to be updated.
- vs. The emergency shutdown documents need to be updated.
Textual
- Place a time clause at the start of a sentence
- Do not use sentences of more than 20 words
Readability scores generally improve
Translatability is a factor of the readability and quantity of words
Practical Impacts
Quality standards can be assessed
Costs time and money to develop, train, and implement
While CL provides control at the sentence level, how do organizations maintain consistency across thousands of documents, multiple authors, and dozens of languages?
https://simplifiedenglish.net/content-optimization-software/
New software platforms and tools focused on controlled writing and content asset management are critical to organizational consistency.
Translation Memory
A database that stores segments of text that have been previously translated, along with their corresponding translations.
Language Pairs = a combination of one unique source language with one unique target language variant
Leverage = re-using a given text both in content creation and content localization
Fuzzy Match = the instance when a source segment is partially recognized as being similar to a source segment in translation memory
Exact Match = the instance when a source segment is word-for-word the same in translation memory
Alignment = confirming the match between source and target texts within translation memory (requires a linguist)
https://localizationlab.com/translation-memory-definition-and-4-main-advantatges/
CrowdIn creates this for you.
Transcript
Style Guides and Branding
While CL focuses on structural simplicity for translatability, a style guide defines the brand's personality. Refresh on the basics of style guides (in general) and why they matter for professional communication.
Technical Writing and Marketing often work together in our international STEM organizations. Understanding a bit about international marketing principles and examples can help us prepare for project management roles.
You've reached the end of this lecture.
The end of 2.3, Control in Translation
Complete the mindmap assignment in Canvas for this topic to unlock the task and progress. Remember, you need to complete all tasks in a Unit before moving on to the next.
The older standard, 15038, was updated and replaced in 2015 with the EN17100. Additional standards may apply to your specific organization's industry and country of business.
When we evaluate a translation, we look beyond just "correctness." A quality translation has five key characteristics. Let's do a quick review.
- First, fluency: Does the translation sound natural and read smoothly in the target language? It shouldn't sound like a translation.
- Second, equivalence: Does it accurately convey the meaning, intent, and tone of the original source text?
- Third, specification alignment: Did the translator follow all the specific instructions from the client, like using a certain termbase or style guide?
- Fourth, norms and conventions: Does the translation follow the expected formatting, style, and cultural rules for that type of document in the target country?
- And finally, ease: How easy is the final text for the end-user to understand and use? A quality translation is clear, simple, and effective.
A great translation isn't just a perfect score in one area; it's a careful balance of all five.
The older standard, 15038, was updated and replaced in 2015 with the EN17100. Additional standards may apply to your specific organization's industry and country of business.
CrowdIn, as a translation and localization project management software, has translation memory and glossary tools built in to the projects. As you translate documents the memory is created and we can manually add more terms. On future documents within the project, the translation memory can be used as a pre-translation tool.
Control in Translation
Hayley Blackburn, PhD
Created on September 24, 2025
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Transcript
Control in Translation
Systems and Tools for Consistency and Organizational Cohesion
Transcript
Review: What are the qualities of strong translation?
Readability
Accuracy
Adequacy
Acceptability
Usability
Remember from Chapter 7 (1.5)
Specifications support control and consistency.
Controlled Language
A rule-based system that restricts lexicon, grammar, and style to improve clarity and translatability, especially for machine translation (MT).
Lexical
Syntactic
Basic Rules
Textual
Readability scores generally improve
Translatability is a factor of the readability and quantity of words
Practical Impacts
Quality standards can be assessed
Costs time and money to develop, train, and implement
While CL provides control at the sentence level, how do organizations maintain consistency across thousands of documents, multiple authors, and dozens of languages?
https://simplifiedenglish.net/content-optimization-software/
New software platforms and tools focused on controlled writing and content asset management are critical to organizational consistency.
Translation Memory
A database that stores segments of text that have been previously translated, along with their corresponding translations.
Language Pairs = a combination of one unique source language with one unique target language variant
Leverage = re-using a given text both in content creation and content localization
Fuzzy Match = the instance when a source segment is partially recognized as being similar to a source segment in translation memory
Exact Match = the instance when a source segment is word-for-word the same in translation memory
Alignment = confirming the match between source and target texts within translation memory (requires a linguist)
https://localizationlab.com/translation-memory-definition-and-4-main-advantatges/
CrowdIn creates this for you.
Transcript
Style Guides and Branding
While CL focuses on structural simplicity for translatability, a style guide defines the brand's personality. Refresh on the basics of style guides (in general) and why they matter for professional communication.
Technical Writing and Marketing often work together in our international STEM organizations. Understanding a bit about international marketing principles and examples can help us prepare for project management roles.
You've reached the end of this lecture.
The end of 2.3, Control in Translation
Complete the mindmap assignment in Canvas for this topic to unlock the task and progress. Remember, you need to complete all tasks in a Unit before moving on to the next.
The older standard, 15038, was updated and replaced in 2015 with the EN17100. Additional standards may apply to your specific organization's industry and country of business.
When we evaluate a translation, we look beyond just "correctness." A quality translation has five key characteristics. Let's do a quick review.
- First, fluency: Does the translation sound natural and read smoothly in the target language? It shouldn't sound like a translation.
- Second, equivalence: Does it accurately convey the meaning, intent, and tone of the original source text?
- Third, specification alignment: Did the translator follow all the specific instructions from the client, like using a certain termbase or style guide?
- Fourth, norms and conventions: Does the translation follow the expected formatting, style, and cultural rules for that type of document in the target country?
- And finally, ease: How easy is the final text for the end-user to understand and use? A quality translation is clear, simple, and effective.
A great translation isn't just a perfect score in one area; it's a careful balance of all five.The older standard, 15038, was updated and replaced in 2015 with the EN17100. Additional standards may apply to your specific organization's industry and country of business.
CrowdIn, as a translation and localization project management software, has translation memory and glossary tools built in to the projects. As you translate documents the memory is created and we can manually add more terms. On future documents within the project, the translation memory can be used as a pre-translation tool.