When it comes to translation, you will be able to find few important quality standards. These quality standards ensure that the translation is highly effective and accurate.
When you are going through those quality standards in translation, back translation is one of the most prominent concepts that you will come across. In order to work as a translator, you must have a strong understanding of what is meant by back-translation. Then you will be able to proceed to the next stage and get the most out of back-translation.
What exactly is back translation?
Back translation is a technique, which will provide you with the opportunity to compare your translation along with original content. When you do such a comparison, you double-check the quality and the accuracy of your translation. As a result, you will be able to spot the mistakes or inaccuracies that you have done during the translation process. Then you can simply fix them and move forward.
During the back translation process, a specific procedure is being followed. Here, the translated version of a document or a file is taken. Then an independent translator is provided with the job of going through the translated document and translating it back to the original content. It is important to make sure that the independent translator you hire in this situation doesn’t have previous exposure to the original content. Then you will be able to end up with achieving effective results at the end of the day.
Once the back translation job is done, the original text will be compared with the final outcome. It can act as a measure to indicate the overall quality of translation. Here, you need to understand that there is no possibility to end up with 100% accurate results because of the nature of language. In other words, back translation that you do will never be the same. However, it will provide you with the opportunity to locate all sorts of confusions, ambiguities, and errors that you can find in the document. Therefore, it is important to go through the details and see how effective your translation process has been.
During the back translation procedure, it is important to make sure that the translation is done literally as much as possible. Along with that, it is possible to ensure that there is an accurate representation in the real content and translated content. Along with that, all types of inaccuracies in translation can be eliminated as well.
One of the key objectives that you can find in back-translation process is to make sure that the translation is not unnatural. If the translation looks artificial, you will never be able to end up with any positive results out of it. You don’t need to worry about it too much because the back translation process will be able to deliver much-needed support and assistance to you. Hence, you will be able to get your hands on back translation and enjoy receiving the positive results that will be thrown on your way.
Why is back translation important?
Now you have a clear understanding of the concept of back-translation. Along with that, you should also understand why back translation is important as well. Then you will be tempted to follow the back translation techniques as a translator and experience all the positive returns that will come on your way as a result of it.
Most of the organizations and institutions that do translations tend to pay more attention to back-translation. That’s because back translation is one of the best methods available for them to verify the content that is being translated. It has become a legal and regulatory requirement for many as well.
For example, it is important to make sure that back translation is never ignored during clinical trials. Then it is possible to make sure that the meaning of the text has not been altered during the translation process. Along with that, you will be able to start using new content without keeping any doubts or second thoughts in mind.
Upon the completion of back translation process, it is possible to say that the content is translated according to the highest quality standards. On the other hand, it is also possible to say that the content is accurate as well. In some of the instances, you will be able to find how the regulatory review processes and review boards request to be provided with back translation. These back translations can help them to double-check and verify the different advertising and promotional claims in an effective manner. You can find lots of examples of this within the pharmaceutical industry. That’s because the pharmaceutical industry is equipped with lots of sensitive and valuable information. It is important to make sure that all these details are accurate, regardless of the language that they are being translated to. On the other hand, it is important to make sure that the entire translation process is done without changing the meaning of the original text as well. Otherwise, there will be a need to go through the entire translation process again and review it. Since you are not in a position to do that, you need to pay more attention to back translation and move forward with it. Then you will be able to make sure that back translation is satisfying all sorts of regulatory and legal requirements that exist.