TEP-Three Step Process for Quality Translation

All companies working with multilingual content to cater to world markets may not be familiar with the acronym “TEP”. TEP is a keynote of most translation agencies’ usual workflow to maintain quality throughout the projects. It refers to the three most common stages of any translation project as Translation+Editing+Proofreading. These three steps are essential for each translation/localization projects’ high-quality final output.

TEP is considered as the best practice of translation. A proper TEP sequence ensures superior quality since the text does undergo editing and proofreading process. A proofreader of a Target text checks the source text and therefore know whether a sentence is true to the original text. It verifies that it is legible and has no grammatical errors. The quality of the text, however, is guaranteed if well qualified resources are deployed for Translation and Proofreading process separately, who possess a thorough knowledge of the projects’ domain.

                                                 

It is always suggested that a three step service should be purchased while it is often the expensive option and even more expensive when companies choose to hire two different suppliers instead of one for full process.


There are many companies which do not work with a single vendor for the entire TEP process, probably due to unsurety for the deployment of multiple resources in the TEP process of one project . So it is more likely that they choose two separate suppliers, one for Translation and other one for Editing+Proofreading however this is a more expensive option.

TEP seems a bit more difficult in case of freelancer as there is generally one person who takes care for the complete project so most probably same person will do the proofreading. However, in case of translation agencies it is more likely to get TEP done by multiple resources. There are many Translation agencies who follow the full process as Translation>Editing>Proofreading with multiple resources and to ensure this, they can typically deliver two separate files i.e. Translated and Reviewed. This helps clients’ to track changes made by the reviewer after translation.

When hiring a translation service agency, it is required to know that agency fulfills with these three basic steps (TEP), so that the quality is up to the mark and meets your expectations to have a long run business relationship set-up.

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