What does the ISO 17100 translation services certification mean for our customers?
What does the ISO 17100 translation services certification mean for our customers?
Our ISO 17100 certification demonstrates to our prospective clients that our processes and policies meet the highest international standards for the language service industry. The certification is a source of professional pride, and we worked hard to earn it.
But how does our certification help you, our clients?
Our professional linguists come with the highest qualifications
Translation technologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. However, we never lose sight of the most important people in language services: the translators! Our network of professional linguists and partner agencies are our most important asset. While we have always followed strict guidelines for onboarding and evaluation of professional linguists, we are proud to have the certification to prove it.
The ISO quality standard requires us to work exclusively with translators who meet the following criteria:
- A verified graduate degree in translation from an institute of higher education; or
- A graduate degree in a specialized field plus at least two years of full-time professional translation experience; or
- A college degree plus five years of full-time professional translation experience.
Bilingual revisers and reviewers must also have education and/or professional experience in their area of expertise. In addition to verifying credentials, we require letters of reference and testing. Our linguists and partners also receive assessment and feedback on an ongoing basis.
In addition to meeting these requirements, many of our in-house English<>French translators have earned their certification from the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ).
Quality starts with project preparation
We admit it: we ask our new clients a lot of questions! The ISO 17100 certifies our methods for handling quotations, assessing feasibility, and gathering all the information needed to provide translation services that meet our clients’ needs. In addition, our processes for establishing contracts and non-disclosure agreements meet international standards. Most importantly, our processes for protecting client-related information are clearly stated and internally enforced. This is particularly important to our clients in insurance and finance sectors and in health and life sciences, whose own vendor management policies require safeguarding.
Our process: check, and double-check
A certified translation requires several steps for quality assurance. First, source content is translated and checked by a professional translator. This is followed by a second in-depth review and revision by a second professional linguist. Before final delivery, our project managers run a variety of automated quality assurance checks, comparing a variety of features across source and target content. One of the most important of these is a check to ensure numerical consistency. A financial, legal, or technical translation must be absolutely free of error to the smallest detail.
Excellent customer service requires careful follow-through
The ISO 17100 improves on its predecessor by setting certain standards for post-production processes. Gathering feedback, addressing modifications, providing native design files, assessing client satisfaction and other closing administration processes like invoicing are conducted professionally and in earnest. We want to make sure you are satisfied, and we are always looking for opportunities to improve!
Working with an ISO 17100-certified translation partner means that both the human talent and the technical processes are sufficient to provide the highest quality language services available. If you have more questions about our certification and our services, give us a call!