Grades and Labels – an overview

You have reached the GLO page mentioned in the appendix to ASTM F2575-23, section X1 (RELATED READING) where we find: Description of Translation Grades and Labels: Tranquality, website: https://www.tranquality.info/glo/

Since the publication of F2575-23, there has been much discussion of labels and grades within the translation community. What are they?

Labels

Labels are intended to help translation consumers identify if what they have access to was verified by a professional or not. The Translation Consumer Labels Project (Labels Project, for short) has been working with the ASTM F43 Committee to improve section 10 Post Production Phase of ASTM F2575-23 where labels are introduced (10.2 and annex). As a result of their effort, section 10 is now under revision by WK92487.

The main proposed changes are to the names of the labels. Currently, they are BRT (bilingually reviewed translation) and UMT (unedited machine translation). The proposed labels’ names are PVT (professionally verified translation) and UVT (unverified translation). The term verified was selected to represent all the processes a translation goes through before reaching the public: production, proofreading, editing (or post-editing, as the case may be) by professionals who meet ASTM and /or ISO qualification parameters.

The new names better reflect the reality of translation work, including output by professionals, non-professionals, MT, and AI engines.

We invite you to watch Prof. Melby’s presentation at the AMTA machine translation conference in Chicago, on September 30, 2024 (International Translation Day).

Grades

Grades of translation have been absorbed into service levels, and a document about service levels will be made available on the Tranquality.info website in due course.

To stay in touch with developments in the Labels Project, bookmark and follow this URL: https://www.tranquality.info/status-of-labels/

Image by Peter H from Pixabay