Institutional translation in national contexts : Quality assurance in governmental institutions across Europe
Abstract
Institutional translation has become an increasingly popular field of inquiry in Translation Studies, especially in relation to translation departments of top-level national or supranational institutions. As a result, descriptions of some specific features, such as quality assurance, have largely been derived from those contexts.
To verify, if similar approaches are taken in lower-level institutions, an international survey of seven countries of the EU was performed, the outcomes of which are presented in this chapter. The survey focused on governmental bodies, typically ministries, and their translation departments, and enquired about their quality assurance practices.
The following areas have been surveyed and compared: The use of translation technology, translation manuals/style guides, and an overall QM (Quality Management) strategy. The results show a rather balanced picture of prevalent use of CAT tools, with terminology management being the common practice.
Revision is practiced in almost all departments. However, the best practice is hardly ever recorded in translation manuals and house style codes are rather an exception, which contradicts the common notion of quality assurance in institutional settings.
It is argued that a more refined definition of institutional translation as regards the types of translating institutions is needed.