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We all know that translations are performed by translators. The question is how you select the “right” translators whom you trust when conveying a text submitted to the agency by a client?!
Most translation agencies are established by linguists who know at least one foreign language and have been working as translators for some quite time. But then they reach the point when they have to hire freelance translators. The “smart” managers would not hire them among friends, schoolmates and acquaintances with some linguistic background. The qualification of such translators is usually not being checked out, so the poor results should not be a surprise for the managers. In a long run, the owners of the translation company are going to regret such sentimental decision. There are always exceptions, but one should be serious when choosing personnel!
Other translation agencies rely on the information provided in the resume of the translator. All CV’s contain a lot of good and strong points, emphasizing on the excellent education and professional experience of the candidate, praising his/her abilities to handle complicated texts and (my favourite) the ability to observe deadlines! According to statistics only about 20% of the total number of experts on the market are good translators, so the result is going to be similar to the one, mentioned in the previous paragraph.
I our opinion, the best decision is for each candidate to undergo a short translation test which is to be examined by a trusted editor. The test text consists usually of 2 pages, combining different types of text. The best way to assess each translator and his/her work is very simple – count and “weigh” the mistakes! You must have a simple, suitable and comprehensive classifier of mistakes. There are a few types of mistakes: semantic, terminological, linguistic, stylistic and etc. On the other hand, the mistakes could be serious or insignificant and each one of them has its own weight.
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