A new model for the review and evaluation of translated texts
Abstract
Once in a while, the Official Translation Service (Itzultzaile Zerbitzu Ofiziala, IZO) of the Basque Government, an agency affiliated with the Basque Institute of Public Administration (Instituto Vasco de Administración Pública, IVAP), reviews translations done both by private translators and by translation companies outside the Administration in order to evaluate their quality. For this purpose, the IZO has until recently used a scheme that showed a clear lack of precision and that left too much to the interpretation of each corrector or evaluator. This brought about a lack of agreement regarding review criteria and each IZO corrector had his or her own way of correcting, following his or her own intuition to a great extent. Aware of the need to reconcile criteria for correcting translation, the IZO has created a model or template for the review and evaluation of translated texts according to specific criteria in order to facilitate the work of correctors and evaluators. The model described in the present article serves to evaluate with the greatest possible objectivity both ordinary translations and translations submitted for exams or public competitions. This contribution from the IZO remains to be completed and improved in the future for the good of Basque translation.
