Translation Quality: How to Improve Outcomes and Lower Costs

Translations are the golden ticket to lucrative international markets. However, this comes at a price: Global corporations can easily spend hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year on translations. 

Our project managers, localization consultants and solution architects analyzed thousands of projects and pinpointed the root of the problem: Translation budgets and processes are often planned based on “gut feeling”. The result? Skyrocketing translation costs due to bloated processes. Or poor translation quality because savings are made in the wrong places.

To strike the right balance, a strategic approach to translation quality is key to long-term cost efficiency and global success.

In this blog post, we’ll explore: 

• How to define professional translation quality
• How to measure translation quality
• How you can improve translation quality IMMEDIATELY

What is translation quality?

Good translations convey the content and style of the source text, while respecting cultural sensitivities and considering the intended use of the target text.

Translation quality is closely linked to business success: Poor translations can quickly lead to PR disasters, legal repercussions, or angry customers (find out about the risks of poor translations). 

Quality – is it just a matter of taste?

There are some things about the taste of a pizza that we can agree on: Is the dough crispy or burnt? Is it made with sun-ripened San Marzano tomatoes or cheap tomato sauce? Some things, on the other hand, come down to personal preference: Do you prefer New York-style or original Neapolitan? With olives or mushrooms on top?

And it’s the same for translations. On the one hand, there are objectively measurable criteria for assessing translation quality, such as: Does a text contain spelling mistakes? Have technical terms been translated correctly? Other aspects, however, are subjective. These include the style of a text or the desired degree of cultural adaptation. 

Another important consideration is that different situations require different levels of quality. Staying with our food analogy: We don’t go to Michelin-starred restaurants every day – usually a simple meal that fills us up is enough. 

A translation that is fit for purpose is referred to as “good enough”. Instructions for a coffee machine don’t need to be inspiring, they just need to be comprehensible. Other texts – a sales contract, a brochure for an art exhibition or your own website – will have higher translation quality requirements. 

In short, what translation quality means is highly dependent on what YOU want to achieve with your content. 

In the next section, we’ll look at how you can define translation quality for your company. 

Defining translation quality

Use the following checklist to define what level of translation quality you require for your business purposes: 

Communications context 

• Who is your target audience? (what are their cultural, linguistic and demographic characteristics)
• What is the purpose of your translations? (to inform, persuade, sell, etc.)
• Does the text need to be adapted for the target market?
• Where will the translations be published? (e.g. website, software, advertising campaign)

Brand & image 

• How do you define your brand personality?
• How would you like to address your target audience? (e.g. casually, formally, humorously)
• Are there any guidelines for your corporate language? (specific language or style rules)
• Are there certain topics in your industry that need to be handled sensitively? (e.g. taboo topics, legal restrictions)

Text conventions

• Are there any special formatting or layout requirements? (e.g. length restrictions in software texts)
• Are there any industry regulations that need to be observed? (e.g. when preparing technical documentation)

Collaboration 

• How will the review process work?
• Do translators need to be provided with reference material (e.g. style guidelines, background information)?

How to measure translation quality

Now that everyone involved knows what the quality requirements are – from translators to project managers to development teams and subject-matter experts – the question becomes how to measure translation quality consistently. 

This seems like an impossible task when a company translates into dozens of languages and a wide variety of teams on different continents are involved. This is where internationally recognized standards for measuring translation quality come in handy. One has gained significant traction recently: ISO 5060.

ISO 5060: The new gold standard for translation quality 

ISO 5060 offers a comprehensive system for classifying translation errors that can be customized for specific scenarios

Published in 2024, ISO 5060 is the first international standard for conducting objective and systematic evaluations of translations. 

ISO 5060 categorizes translation errors into seven main categories: 

• Terminology
• Accuracy
• Linguistic conventions
• Style
• Locale conventions
• Audience appropriateness
• Design and markup

All error types can be customized and weighted by severity. This allows for a tailored definition of quality for different text types. 

Example 1: A spelling mistake on a low-traffic webpage may be annoying but is unlikely to have serious consequences. However, if the same mistake appears on a 10-meter-high billboard, it’s a different matter. 

Example 2: A factual error in a blog post should be weighted lower than a false statement in a legally binding contract. 

Error categories and list of translation errors in an LQA (Linguistic Quality Assurance) form 

Translation workflows in the age of AI

Human vs machine

Traditional translation workflows are no longer suitable nor sustainable in today’s world. There are two reasons for this: 

1. The amount of content that international companies need to produce has increased dramatically – and with it, the potential translation costs. 
2. As a result, companies are increasingly seeking to automate the translation process using machine translation. 

When it comes to translating huge volumes of text in a short time frame, human translators are often too expensive, too slow, and sometimes the quality simply varies too much. But machines are not the perfect solution either: They produce inexplicable errors and fail at dealing with content that is stylistically challenging. 

One thing is clear: Humans or machines alone are not the answer here; a symbiosis is what is needed. 

Think of workflows as modules

A translation workflow involves multiple steps that need to take place at a specific time, making it more complicated to execute than one might think.

For a long time, the idea of having multiple people participate in the translation process the “second set of eyes” principle was treated as gospel in the translation industry. 

This multi-step process is known as TEP (short for Translate, Edit, Proof) and has been advocated by industry standards such as ISO 17100. 

However, multiple review cycles do not always mean higher quality. Over-correction can even negatively impact the overall result – as the saying goes, “too many cooks spoil the broth”, not to mention the ever-increasing costs. 

The fact of the matter is that in 2025 there will no longer be a single ideal translation workflow. 

That’s why Milengo develops tailored solutions for our clients based on their business objectives.

Add quality control – internally or via your LSP

To ensure consistent results and avoid surprises after publishing translated content, it’s important to build in quality control – whether through your internal team or your translation partner.

Technical review: The content of the translation is reviewed by subject-matter experts – for example, by engineers or your legal department. This is important when it comes to sensitive or complex technical topics. 

Layout check: For brochures, print magazines and web pages, a final check of the translation in the finished design eliminates any remaining errors. 

User testing: This involves testing whether a translation actually fulfills its function in the context of localized software, and everything is in the right place. 

Regular quality assessments

Translation quality should be assessed at regular intervals using a standardized method to check whether it meets requirements (see section “How to measure translation quality”). 

Focus on continous improvement 

Close collaboration between the client and the language service provider is essential in order to improve translation quality in the long run. Milengo customers, for example, can provide feedback on translations directly via the LanguageDesk customer portal. This feedback is then incorporated into all future translations. 

High quality translations at a low price – is it even possible?

Even with AI, good translations can still cost a lot of money. The good news is that companies can make significant savings if they take a smart approach to translation quality. Here is a summary of our most valuable tips: 

• Identify areas where translation quality that is “good enough” is sufficient to avoid unnecessary additional spend. 
• Design integrated and automated translation workflows (for detailed steps, take a look at our Guide to Translation Management). 
• Define quality standards in a style guide and share it with all stakeholders to avoid costly misunderstandings and revisions. 
• Professionalize your translation management processes with a proven translation management system that includes translation memories and multilingual glossaries. 
• Regularly measure translation quality and adapt your processes if necessary. 

Need an all-in-one solution?

You’re in the right place! Milengo is a leading language service provider offering tailored translation services. We use translation management systems with language AI, comply with the ISO 5060 standard, and strictly adhere to our customers’ style guides and terminology: 

For technical documentation, our solutions deliver clear, error-free translations optimized for your products and audience. For marketing and advertising content, we craft multilingual messaging that truly resonates across cultures – often achieving significant cost savings compared to conventional translation approaches.

Whether you’re localizing product manuals or launching international campaigns, Milengo gives you high-impact results with greater efficiency, consistency, and control.