Translation: a quality service?

How can you tell whether or not a translation service offers good quality?  These days, excellence in quality is sought after because it represents significant benefits for organizations. With this in mind, many companies, including translation services, have obtained quality standard certifications such as ISO 9001.  
Does this standard guarantee a quality translation? Certainly not.  This is the reason behind the creation of the European Quality Standard for Translation Services, EN 15038, which was specifically elaborated with translation in mind.  While this standard addresses the processes involved in providing the service - which in itself is a large step forward - it focuses on offering guidelines rather than a quality management system for translation services.


In general, it is safe to say that existing quality standards in the industry provide a reference for technical or linguistic quality, but do not guarantee that the client will receive quality service. This is because they do not include functional quality, which is fundamental for overall quality.


While there is an abundance of publications, studies and research in the area of service marketing and quality management, they do not include the unique characteristics of the translation industry.  In addition, there are currently no publications that thoroughly address the topic from the perspective of translation and localization services.  


The results of this preliminary study on the topic were presented in the V Latin American Congress of Translation and Interpreting. These results hopefully will provide a stepping stone for more in-depth research in the future.


Sources:

1. Parasuraman, A., Zeithmal, V.A. y Berry, L.L. A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing. 1985.
2. Grönroos, Christian. Marketing y gestión de servicios. Ediciones Diaz de Santos S.A., 1994.
3. Berry, Leonard y Parasuraman A. Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality. The Free Press, 1991.
3. EN-15038 European Quality Standard for Translation Service Providers, 2006.
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