ITR was delighted when SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) announced in August 2005 that the SAE J2450 Translation Quality Metric is now Recommended Practice and commercially available to translation service providers and their clients.

The metric was conceived as a device for translation quality evaluation using objective criteria. Over several years the SAE J2450 committee, which boasts a combination of the world's leading automotive manufacturers (notably GM, Ford, Volvo, Daimler Chrysler) and translation service providers including ITR, has developed what it believes will be a tool of universal interest.

The metric comprises 7 distinct error categories such as "Wrong Term" or "Omission" which cover all the error types that normally occur in technical translations. A weight or score is assigned to each error type, enabling an evaluator to "measure" a particular translation sample and apply a total score. The user defines what is an acceptable score in each context.

Originally developed for evaluating the quality of translations of automotive service documents, SAE J2450 can be applied to technical translations in any field. When the metric became Recommended Practice, Helen Eckersley, ITR's Production Director and an active member of the SAE J2450 Committee, said "Translation clients are under constant pressure to streamline workflow processes in order to reduce costs and timelines. This involves removing any steps that do not add value to the end product or the process. In the translation workflow process this means eliminating the subjectivity that often impedes the editing or in-country review stages. Having a device that allows objective evaluation of translation quality is paramount, and many translation service providers including ITR have developed their own metrics for this purpose. But the introduction of a universally recognised standard is a significant and welcome breakthrough. It will be interesting to monitor the application of the J2450 Translation Quality Metric and its evolution."

For more information about SAE J2450 visit www.sae.org