What really matters when you have sensitive documents translated? How do you choose the right translators, and what internal preparations do you need to make to ensure that you receive the best possible compliance translations? Stay safe with our checklist for compliance translations.
1. Standards provide a secure foundation
Ideally, companies will issue policies that all parties involved (including translators) can use to fulfill the internal instructions and compliance standards more or less by default. Which wording simply won’t fly? What benchmarks apply to data protection issues? Defining a compliance standard that everyone can understand also helps build trust in the company’s internal compliance program.
2. Translators also need transparency
Make sure that reference material, guidelines, or training are also made available to translators. In particular, industry-specific knowledge needs to be shared. Compliance is more narrowly defined in some industries than in others, and whether or not a company is listed also plays a relevant role. If compliance policies are open and transparent, this ultimately contributes to the quality of translations.
3. Linguistic expertise does not imply compliance expertise
There are geographical boundaries, linguistic boundaries, and linguistic regions. This triad already maps out the high standards expected of translations in the legal environment. Qualified English translators need to be aware of the very different concepts of compliance that apply in the UK on the one hand, and in the US on the other, and take them into account in their work. Bear this in mind when selecting your translator(s) and be as specific as possible when placing an order. For some assignments with particularly high data protection standards, it may also make sense to work exclusively with translators based in the EU or the EEA.
4. Translation memory reduces costs and hassle
Compliance translations have neither literary nor emotional aspirations. They need to be understandable and must rest on a sound terminological foundation. Put another way, certain terms and phrases crop up repeatedly. For this reason, professional translation providers use what are called ‘translation memory tools’ to ensure consistency on the one hand and improve efficiency on the other. These tools are nothing more than highly simplified databases that store specific recurring segments of text. In the case of a long-term partnership with a language service provider, this database will be continuously populated with text segments – or ‘matches’ – which can help reduce translation costs.
5. Quality needs assurance
A translator is not a lawyer and a lawyer is not a translator. Therefore, especially when it comes to sensitive issues such as compliance, experts need to consult with one another constantly to rule out mistakes – and ensure a rigorous quality assurance process that is documented in writing. If you are dealing with particularly sensitive documents, it makes sense to have two translators work on them so that the translation itself is checked.
