Download Risk Management in Translation projects: Study and Survey Results

A new trend in technical writing is the outsourcing of English content to
lower cost markets, where the authors are not native English speakers.
Consequently, while they might master the technical field, and are fluent in
English, the quality of this outsourced writing may be unsatisfactory, which poses
a risk to the project. The text might still contain linguistic errors (i.e. interferences
from their native language) that could slow down the comprehension stage of
translation (DUNNE, 2013: 90).
Finally, a source text might also contain cultural references that could
require extensive adaptation. This represents another source of risk. On one hand,
the translation team may not be willing to take the risk of adapting these cultural
references, and instead, provide a more literal translation. On the other hand, the
translation team might over-adapt the text and not retain enough of the source
culture (DUNNE, 2013: 91).
5.2.2.4.1.2 Context
The advent of computer-assisted translation tools is another area of risk that, in
some cases, has an impact on the quality of the text. Such tools usually separate
form and content, thus allowing the translator to focus on the content without
having to worry about the form. However, the absence of form can make it more
difficult to grasp the visual context of the text. The textual context might not even
exist until the visual output has been created. All in all, the lack of context (visual
or textual) may pose a risk to the project, as it jeopardizes the quality of the target
text.
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