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| Title: | Verification | |||
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| Date of publishing: | March 29, 2011 | |||
| Hits: | 693 | |||
| Category: | Other content | |||
Verification
Translation verification refers to linguistic quality control with equivalence checks, and cApStAn is a pioneer in this field.
A decade ago, back translation was still used to assess the quality of translated versions of tests and questionnaires in international surveys. In recent years, a number of articles stressed that back translations are an ineffective means to check the equivalence of a translated data collection instrument. One of the main arguments found in the literature is that a good translation may at times need to deviate from the syntax and vocabulary of the original to achieve equivalence. There is a consensus now that a literal translation of a data collection instrument is a poor translation. While the back translation technique may bring gross mistranslations to the light, the problem is that, for obvious reasons, literal translations score well when back translated, while good translations - translations that strike the right balance between faithfulness and fluency - will yield back translations that seem too remote from the original.
A truly global network of linguists and verifiers with the most diverse cultural backgrounds, cApStAn feeds a wealth of empirical contributions into research on good practices to make sensitive texts commensurable across languages, across countries, across cultures, across delivery modes or across time.
Linguistic expertise forms only part of the skills needed to meet required quality standards. The assignment description includes verifying a specific translation, not only for linguistic correctness -- spelling, phraseology, syntax, grammar -- but also on the equivalence -- type of response elicited by the question, intelligibility, register, appropriateness of the form of address for the target audience, response categories, social desirability, psychometric characteristics -- of the adapted version versus the original.
Translation verification work at cApStAn is based on existing literature on international test adaptation in general (Hambleton, 1994; Hambleton and Patsula, 1998 and 1999; Jeanrie and Bertrand, 1999, Hambleton, 2002), and on the International Test Commission's (ITC) guidelines for the translation/adaptation of psychological tests and data collection instruments in particular.
"Malheur aux faiseurs de traductions littérales, qui en traduisant chaque parole énervent le sens! C'est bien là qu'on peut dire que la lettre tue, et que l'esprit vivifie."
"Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life."