| Once the translation is completed, it should be
reviewed by the client. This allows you to gauge the accuracy of the
translation and provides invaluable feedback for the translator to
use in future projects. The reviewer should be a native speaker of
the target language and intimately familiar with the product in question.
There might be such a person available in your offices in the United
States. Using such a reviewer can be an advantage, especially in
speeding up the review time. The reviewer can directly contact the
translator to clear up any ambiguous points.
Another option is the in-country review, especially if your company
has a sales force or production unit in the target country. These
reviewers will have access to the most up-to-date terminology. Be
careful to insist on a review for technical intelligibility only.
If your reviewer expresses concerns about the grammatical correctness
or linguistic characteristics of the translation, ask for specifics.
Very few projects have enough time allotted for seven or eight reviewers,
each "improving" on the work of the one before.
In any case, it is important to be able to rely on your reviewer
or to budget enough time if you're not sure. The authors have seen,
on occasion, in-country reviews that take up to ten times as long
as the actual translation.
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