Back Translation

Our back translation service is a Quality Management tool commonly used to evaluate the quality of translations. For many customers, this is a key stage in their Quality Assurance process.

Request a back translation today.

“A source text is translated into a target (forward) language and the target language text is translated back into the source language by an independent translator who has not had sight of the source text and will therefore provide an unbiased rendition of the meaning of the forward translation for quality-control purposes.”

Once a back translation is performed, it should be compared against the original source language text. Differences in meaning may indicate errors introduced during translation. Any possible discrepancies are evaluated carefully to establish their cause and arrive at an explanation.

You may wish to adjust the forward translation in light of the back translation.

This process of harmonisation is a step in which the forward and back translator come to agreement on the best possible forward translation.

Who needs a back translation service?

Many of our customers conduct clinical research in which the safety of study participants is paramount. Translations of patient-facing documentation for clinical research purposes, and other related materials, are most likely to require this additional quality management step.