What is TE vs TEP translation to a stranger?

Most people are probably not familiar with this acronym. TEP refers to the three most important aspects of a translation project: Translation, Editing and Proofreading. But, what exactly does it mean for your multilingual project? Is it really key to ensuring the best result and guaranteeing quality translations?

Some agencies only use a TE process, is this recommended?

Any agency that offers high quality translations will always recommend and offer all three steps. Some agencies offer just translation, and this means that the file is just translated and then sent back to the client. 

Others offer just two of the three steps: translation and editing. However, with just these two steps the translated text is not typically ready for publishing, which could create many more problems with meaning across the language barrier should the error totally change the intent, as profiled in our previous post: ‘5 Translation errors that have marked our lives.

What is the TEP process and how does it work?

The three components involved in TEP combine to create translations that can be guaranteed in terms of meaning, quality and publishing timeframes.

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• T - Translation

Pure translation done by a professional native with a specific domain expertise.

• E - Editing

It is a critical part of the process, in this step, a second professional linguist will read the original document and the finished translation, then compare and correct any errors present in the translation.

• P - Proofreading

After translation and editing, a third native professional translator will review the translation to ensure that the grammar, format and punctuation are correct.

Why use a three-step process instead of a single-step process?

The reason for this is obvious to anyone who understands the dangers of bypassing quality control in any process. Translation agencies that offer and recommend a single-step process will almost always be cheaper, but the accuracy of the final text cannot always be relied upon.

It is worth considering that omitting the second and final steps of the TEP process, and the most cost effective steps of the TEP process, will invariably compromise the quality assurance of the whole translation process. In some circumstances, a T only service can be warranted, however is not the gold start for best practice.

The three-step process ensures that the final text is fluent and grammatically correct in itself and accurate in terms of how it relates to the meaning and message of the original document.

In many ways, TEP should be considered as the benchmark and best practice for document translation. TE or TP processes should only be used for low priority projects, short length texts, for example short production descriptions or for texts where the budget is more important than the accuracy or quality of the final result.

This does not mean that a freelance translator cannot achieve great things. But without the additional pairs of eyes and knowledge that an editor and proofreader bring to a project, you run the risk of delay and or additional cost.

If you are still unclear about the TEP process and why it is important, or perhaps you disagree, why not contact us? Lingual Consultancy we are waiting for you!

By Lucía Sánchez