Questionnaire Translation and Review:
Life Outside Excel Without Loss of Information
Using LQE in the CAT Tool to
Document Linguists’ Interventions
Using LQE in the CAT Tool to
Document Linguists’ Interventions
Manuel Souto Pico
Lead translation technologist @ cApStAn
LQE restful API developer (PRESENTER)
Steve Dept
Founding partner @ cApStAn
Intervention categories framework
Briac Pilpré
Independent senior Java developer
OmegaT core developer / LQE plugin author
cApStAn Linguistic Quality Control
- Founded in Belgium in 2000
- Methodology for standardised evaluation of translation quality
- Offices in Brussels and Philadelphia
- Close cooperation with academic world
Translation review in surveys
To date, the most widespread approach to language tasks (translation, verification, etc.) in surveys typically involves:
- a translation tool (aka CAT tool), where the linguist enters or edits the target-language version, and
-
a monitoring tool (an Excel file), where the linguist
- checks translation and adaptation guidelines and
- documents their interventions.
to translate
and to review
translation editor
monitoring form
Translation review in surveys
copy-paste
to document interventions
to check guidelines
The problem we try to solve
Monitoring forms tend to be unwieldy, because:
- they pose a distraction for the reviewer, who must cycle back and forth between two or more windows
copy-paste
translation editor
monitoring form
Translation review in ILSA's
to translate
and to review
to document interventions
to check guidelines
The problem we try to solve
Monitoring forms tend to be unwieldy, because:
- they pose a distraction for the verifier, who must cycle back and forth between two or more windows
- they have many columns that require a large screen or a lot of scrolling, most of which the reviewer doesn't really need to see.
- there is no connection between the actual translation data and the related documentation, which entails a lot of copy-pasting.
OmegaT
OmegaT is a CAT tool (or translation editor). It is:
- Free software (free as in freedom and free of cost)
- Multiplatform (it works on Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Filters for more than 30 file formats (XLIFF, DOCX, etc.)
- Follows translation industry's open standards closely
- Open source: you may modify the code (or hire a developer to do it for you) to suit your own requirements
- Customisable and expandable by means of scripts/macros and plugins
The improvement we propose
The goal:
- Let the reviewer focus better on what really matters to them.
In practice:
- New panes within OmegaT's window
- A new approach to data collection and use
The means:
- Reduce complexity of the working environment
- Let the reviewer see the translation notes and document their interventions directly in the translation tool
to translate
and to review
translation editor
monitoring form
copy-paste
to document interventions
to check guidelines
Linguistic Quality Evaluation
to translate
and to review
translation editor
to document interventions
to check guidelines
Linguistic Quality Evaluation
demo
Intervention categories
The intervention categories, subcategories and severity levels are not hard-coded in the LQE, but can customised depending on the project and the client, by means of a configuration file.
T&A notes + LQE in OmegaT
- The linguist can read the notes and document interventions in OmegaT
- Each issue has:
- Category
- Severity
- Comment
- Writes LQE reports to:
- local Excel file, and/or
- remote database (cApps)
- LQE reports are available on cApps
manuel.souto@capstan.be
Questionnaire Translation and Review: Life Outside Excel Without Loss of Information Using LQE in the CAT Tool to Document Linguists’ Interventions Using LQE in the CAT Tool to Document Linguists’ Interventions
LQE: documenting interventions without Excel
By cApStAn LQC
LQE: documenting interventions without Excel
Presentation for CSDI 2021
- 264
