24/06/2024

The translation industry benefits from a large number of standards that set the bar high for all stakeholders. After all, these standards are crucial to ensuring consistent and high-quality translations. In this article, we offer a comprehensive overview of the most important standards that are used in the various phases of text creation and translation, as well as in terminology work.

Standards are essential for the work of translators, editors and terminologists. They set the bar for quality and are an important basis for the collaboration between clients and service providers, for companies that produce tools and for institutions, such as universities, that train young professionals.

The landscape of standards for text creation, translation and evaluation (oneword GmbH)

The editing and translation process begins with creating the text. Various standards ensure that texts are written in such a way that they are accessible, easy to translate and easy to understand. Form-based specifications for certain text genres, such as instruction manuals or guidelines for industry-specific communication, also provide a guide for clients and editors. Insofar as they are involved in creating texts or pre-editing source language content, these standards are also relevant for translation service providers and, not least, for companies that produce tools. Below we list the text creation standards that are closely related to translation.

Texts that are designed with translation-oriented writing in mind right from the start prevent errors and reduce translation costs and effort. DIN 8579 provides the basis for creating texts that are suitable for translation. The standard specifies requirements for formatting, terminology, grammar, sentence structure and file formats or reference material. In our blog post on DIN 8579, we looked in detail at the positive effects of translation-oriented writing in practice. An international standard (ISO AWI 18968) is currently being developed based on the German standard DIN 8579, with our Head of Quality Management Eva-Maria Tillmann as co-project manager.

There are specific guidelines for the design and formulation of text genres for different industries. The Machinery Directive is particularly relevant for machine manufacturers and operators. It requires the instruction manual to be provided in the official language of the Member State in which the machinery is put into service. The EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) includes many different rules for medical product information and the translation of this information. Technical translation takes centre stage here, and requires content that is continually updated. Similarly to the Machinery Directive, the information accompanying the product must be available in the official language of the country in which the product is being offered.

DIN IEC/IEEE 82079-1 formulates the requirements for instruction manuals and aims to minimise the risks of use. The standard requires a translation process to be defined and implemented in accordance with the specifications. It provides a framework for comprehensible and standardised usage information and recommends translation processes in line with ISO 17100. Our blog post on DIN IEC/IEEE82079-1 provides details on this standard and the options for using machine translation and post-editing (MTPE) for technical texts.

In 2023, the DIN ISO 24495-1 standard for plain language was published and it standardised the creation of easily comprehensible texts in public administration and corporate communication. This means that it creates a clear, unified understanding of what plain language is and how it can be implemented. In April 2024, a further guideline was published, expanding on the first one: DIN 8581-1 sets out the general, international recommendations for applying the standard in the German language. It also includes recommendations for sentence length, sentence structure and tenses to complete the existing DIN standard.

Terminology databases and terminology work are the basic framework for ensuring consistent technical language in translation. There are basic DIN standards governing the structure and use of terminology databases. Being familiar with these is not only important for clients commissioning terminology work, but also – and especially – for translation service providers and companies producing tools.

DIN 2330 can be understood as the absolute foundational standard for terminology work. The standard covers all the central scientific principles, including concepts and their relationships, different types of definitions and requirements for good definitions, and evaluating designations. ISO 29383 (currently only available in English) deals with the practical implementation, including guidelines and methodology for implementing a terminology strategy and, as a result, providing a framework for systematically developing a terminology system. It describes various scenarios and key concepts of terminology management and explains their practical applications.

After the two general basic standards, DIN 2331 and DIN 2340 provide clear rules for the two central players in terminology work: concepts and designations. DIN 2331 deals with the structure of concept systems and the graphical representation of relationships between concepts. The standard therefore forms the basis for communication between different specialist areas and for the structured representation of knowledge. DIN 2340 sets out the principles for the formation of short forms for designations and names in German, providing many examples. It is therefore a valuable guide for rule-based term creation and, as a result, provides a basis for consistent terminology work.

If you want to manage the terminology that you have developed in an effective way, a terminology database is essential.

The DIN ISO 26162 series of standards deals with the technical structure of terminology databases and is divided into three parts: design, software and content. Part 1 sets out the general principles for creating and designing terminology databases. This ensures maximum efficiency and quality across various databases and models. Part 2 deals with the software behind the process. It defines standardised features that all terminology management systems must have, even if they have different programming bases, user interfaces or data models. This guarantees that terminology data is handled uniformly. Part 3 deals with the digital content of terminology systems. The standard covers important aspects of data collection and accuracy, as well as specifications for design conformity between data sets to ensure high data quality within the systems.

Explicitly designed for multilingual communication, ISO 12616-1 (currently only available in English) regulates the requirements for terminology databases with bilingual or multilingual content. It deals with the tasks, skills, processes and technologies that are necessary for working with translation-oriented terminology databases.

Once the text has been created and a terminology management system has been set up, the content is translated. The translation process always begins with the preparation and commissioning of the job by the client, which now has its own separate ISO standard (ISO 11669). The translation project specifications provide the foundations for high quality and for the management of the translation process by the service provider, for which there are also separate standards. Guidelines that deal with evaluating translations are relevant at the end of a project.

Clients and the translation service providers involved play a key role in planning and preparing translation projects. ISO 11669 (currently only available in English) helps to identify requirements for translation projects and enables a smooth commissioning process. The processes and quality assurance measures can only be adjusted and the desired quality achieved if the requirements are clearly defined. We took a closer look at this standard, which oneword helped to create, in a blog post. The German version of DIN ISO 11669 is currently being finalised, with publication expected at the end of 2024.

Probably the most fundamental standard for the translation industry, DIN EN ISO 17100 defines requirements for translation processes that aim to fulfil the client’s specifications (identified using ISO 11669, for example) with regard to translations. As a result, the content of the standard has a decisive impact on the quality of translations. We explained how the standard ensures translation services of the best possible quality in a separate article. Revisions to ISO 17100 are expected to start from 2025.

If machine translation is used rather than human translation, then the guidelines in DIN ISO 18587, which relates to the post-editing of machine translation, apply. The standard ensures maximum transparency and quality when post-editing machine translation output and raises it to a level comparable to human translation by setting high standards.
We analysed the relationship between the two standards in detail in a blog post. ISO 18587 is also currently being revised, with publication planned for 2026.

There are guidelines for evaluating translations that are relevant for both the client and the translation service provider. DIN ISO 5060 provides an objective framework for evaluating delivered translations. It requires, for example, that evaluations must be reproducible regardless of who is performing them. This enables clients to make a well-founded assessment of the overall performance of human translators as well as machine translation output. oneword was involved in the development of this standard as a member of the relevant DIN committee. We explained the standard in detail on the blog when it was published in February 2024.

Knowledge of and compliance with the relevant standards are essential for high-quality translation and terminology work. They help everyone involved to standardise processes, ensure a high level of quality and work to agreed requirements. For this reason, translators, clients and service providers should all be familiar with these standards. This is the only way to produce the best possible translations that fulfil the client’s requirements.

Would you like more information on standards in the translation industry or are you looking for a reliable and certified translation service provider? Then oneword is the right partner for you! We actively contribute our expertise towards the development of standards for the translation industry. We are certified and have a lot of practical experience with the relevant standards. Please feel free to contact us by e-mail or using the form below.