Certified translator can prevent marketing embarrassment

（Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services）
Looking for a translator who can make your written material sing in a foreign language the way it does in English? The letters ATA after the translator's name can provide a clue about the person's ability.

Like every professional organization worth its salt, the American Translators Association has a code of conduct and quality standards that set the bar for performance and help members separate themselves from the pack. Without standards, you might run into the problem Coors had when its slogan "Turn it loose" became "Suffer from diarrhea" in the Spanish translation.

Headquartered in Virginia, the ATA is made up of more than 8,500 freelance translators. About four years ago, it established a division encompassing translation companies, according to Suzanne Robinson, the owner of Denver-based Liaison Multilingual. By the end of 2001, there were 523 small- to medium-sized members in the Translation Company Division.

Now the ATA/TCD is putting together industry standards to guide company members in the way they operate with clients and the translators with whom they subcontract; and to give clients confidence in the translation company's ability to do the job.

"The primary reason for doing this is to encourage higher standards within our own industry, and to encourage all companies that are willing to subscribe to these standards to work at a quality level," says Robinson, who is heading the effort.

Developing standards
Developing standards that will satisfy a cross-section of the membership and still be true to its goal is no easy task, and Robinson and her team have invested three years in the project to date. Fortunately, the work done by organizations in Europe and Canada has served as a model.

Last November, Robinson met with representatives of the translation company associations of the European Community, the British Standards Institution and the Canadian translation companies. From this research, she says, has come "a document that is appropriate for companies in the U.S."

The ATA/TCD quality standards are still a work in progress and must be approved by the TCD membership at the June conference in Chicago and in the fall at the annual meeting of the ATA in Atlanta.

The finished product will cover such issues as ethics and professional conduct when dealing with clients, translators and interpreters, other independent contractors and competitors; confidentiality, so important in this age of lax security; quality requirements and how these requirements are met; quality management, which includes inspection, testing and editing of the finished translation; and staff training, among other items.

From:http://www.bizjournals.com/