Not all content is created equal - Why undertake a Client Review?
Some companies choose to implement an optional review at the end of the translation workflow for sensitive content that needs to be refined to ensure the messaging for each language and country is in line with your tone and brand voice.
Why Client Reviews need to be conducted by you
You, as the content owner, are familiar with your company-specific style and terminology. You are also more familiar with the function that your translated content will have – more so than your translators. That means that an internal reviewer, appointed by you, can add a layer of knowledge that fine-tunes the final product and aligns it closely with your brand.
What is the role of a Client Reviewer?
This review stage is usually carried out by native speakers, who are subject matter experts within your organisation. The responsibility of a Client Reviewer is to review the translation and validate that the translation meets the needs of their market. Where necessary, they may also make minor tweaks, to better align the translation with the brand tone of voice in the market, this is where their personal experience is key.
In brief, a Client Reviewer should ideally:
- Be native in the target language
- Be a professional translator or Client Reviewer or colleague (within your company) who has extensive subject matter expertise and is aware of the stylistic requirements of the target audience
- Have familiarity with the translation review process
- Be consistently assigned to review similar types of content
Key responsibilities of a Client Reviewer:
- Review a translation to ensure that it makes sense on its own, and revise the translation if they cannot understand it without comparing it to the source
- Improve a translation when it does not conform to the company’s Style Guide
- Always refer to the source content, and only change the target content in line it
- Follow all company conventions (e.g. Terminology, translate/do not translate, localise/do not localise)
- Review to improve the natural flow of the translation, to align it with the company’s tone of voice. It is important they do not start making changes that reflect their personal preferences
- Keep the meaning and the reader’s view in mind when fixing small errors to strike a balance between accuracy and readability