ISO/TC 37/SC 5/WG 1 - Translation

This document gives general guidance on all stages of a translation project. Its main purpose is to ensure efficiency and quality by enhancing communication among the parties involved in the translation project. This document provides a framework for developing translation project specifications that are the basis for requesting, setting up, managing and evaluating translation projects. It also includes guidance on needs analysis, risk assessment and workflows, but it does not provide procedures for evaluating the quality of translation output. This document is primarily intended for those who request translation services. However, it can also be relevant for the translation service providers and the end users of the translation output. It is applicable to all sectors, including the commercial and government sectors, and non-profit organizations. It does not apply to interpreting services.

This document gives guidance on the evaluation of human translation output, post-edited machine translation output, and unedited machine translation output. It also provides guidance on the qualifications and competences of evaluators. The role of sampling is also discussed in this document. This document focuses on an analytic translation evaluation approach using error types and penalty points configured to produce an error score and a quality rating. A further focus is the human evaluation of translation output only. This document follows an approach designed to reflect minimum complexity. The rationale behind this approach is to keep this document applicable for as many users as possible in the translation sector. The guidance provided in this document can also support the evaluation of source texts intended for translation. This document is applicable to translation service providers (TSPs), including individual translators, translation companies or in-house translation services, their clients and other interested parties in the translation sector, such as translator education and training institutions. This document does not apply to related elements such as the processes of assuring the quality of translation output and corrective actions. This document does not apply to interpreting.

ISO 17100:2015 provides requirements for the core processes, resources, and other aspects necessary for the delivery of a quality translation service that meets applicable specifications. Application of ISO 17100:2015 also provides the means by which a translation service provider (TSP) can demonstrate conformity of specified translation services to ISO 17100:2015 and the capability of its processes and resources to deliver a translation service that will meet the client's and other applicable specifications. Applicable specifications can include those of the client, of the TSP itself, and of any relevant industry codes, best-practice guides, or legislation. The use of raw output from machine translation plus post-editing is outside the scope of ISO 17100:2015. ISO 17100:2015 does not apply to interpreting services.