Status of Labels – TRANQUALITY

After much consideration and discussion, we have concluded that the current text in ASTM F2575-23, which implies that all translations are either bilingually reviewed by a qualified professional or produced by a machine with no subsequent editing, is an oversimplification.

Our survey for acronyms to replace the ones in the standard—(BRT and UMT)—identified a common thread, to differentiate output verified (e.g., checked) by qualified professionals from other output (raw AI, raw MT, work by non-qualified persons). A proposal is being prepared to replace BRT with PVT (Professionally Verified Translation) and to replace UMT with UVT (UnVerified Translation). Phase I of the survey ended on July 31, 2024. You can participate in Phase II until August 30, 2024. Click the button above to participate.

Since the labels were originally proposed, we have identified three factors that need to be taken into consideration. And they are process, qualifications, and accountability.

The process used (ranging from a traditional translation [by a human, with one or two sets of eyes] to raw machine translation).

The qualifications of the humans involved in producing or reviewing the translation output.

Accountability, that is, identifying the human(s) or organization(s) responsible for correspondence with the source.

See below how these factors are applied.

In line with ASTM F2575-23, we propose staying with only two consumer protection labels, therefore, we are proposing only two icons. Phase II of our survey suggested these to be submitted to ASTM.

Key: The dashed lines indicate source language, the solid line indicates target language, the circle with the check mark inside indicates content has been verified (PVT), and the triangle with the exclamation mark inside is a warning (UVT).

Phase III of the survey was launched during the AMTA – Association for Machine Translation in the Americas conference, which took place from September 30 through October 2nd, 2024, in Chicago*. In this phase, we looked for the perspective of different translation stakeholders on the need for translation consumer labels.
The next step is the creation of a narrow ballot to officially amend the ASTM translation standard (F2575) by replacing BRT with PVT and replacing UMT with UVT.
As of early October, the survey associated with the AMTA presentation is still being conducted.

*You may download Prof. Melby’s slides here.

This page was last updated on October 3, 2024.