Choosing the right translation partner in today’s saturated market is more challenging than ever. A Google search yields hundreds of advertisements, and sometimes providers offer subpar, machine translation-only results.
The stakes are high. In sectors like manufacturing, legal, or mining, inaccurate machine translations can lead to catastrophic operational failures and regulatory fines.
This is why transparent quality metrics are absolutely essential when evaluating and selecting a translation provider. They offer a quantifiable, auditable standard to ensure the final translation not only reads well but is also fit for your specific, high-risk purpose.
What should you look for?
Transparent quality metrics are the foundation of a trustworthy translation service. They allow you to see exactly how your translations are evaluated, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement.
But not all metrics are created equal. The best providers use a blend of traditional and advanced metrics to give a holistic view of translation quality.
Key metrics we use at Guildhawk
- BLEU: Measures word and phrase overlap with reference translations - they are fast, but surface-level.
- METEOR: Goes deeper, considering synonyms and sentence structure for more nuanced evaluation.
- chrF++: Focuses on character-level similarity, ideal for morphologically rich languages.
- BERTScore & COMET: Use AI to assess semantic meaning and context, aligning closely with human judgment.
- Custom Nuance Metrics: Tailored metrics for clients with specific needs to capture industry-specific terminology and style.
How to read a quality score
The numerical scores from automated metrics aren't useful in a vacuum. Next time, you need to ask the provider for a) what scores and metrics they use; and b) in what contexts do they use each score for. This will help you clarify the type of translation quality you need.
We’ve detailed you a table of what questions you might want to ask when sourcing the best translation provider.
|
Component |
What to ask |
Why it matters |
|
Error Categorisation |
“What error model do you use? Can I see your severity scale?” |
Identifies risk. Shows how they classify Critical errors (e.g., mistranslating a safety instruction) versus Minor errors (e.g., punctuation). For high-risk content, you must ensure Critical errors get the highest penalty. |
|
Score Thresholds |
“What is the minimum acceptable score (e.g., target BLEU or COMET) for my specific content type (e.g., legal contracts)?” |
Sets the bar. Ensures the provider doesn't deliver a "good" marketing translation score for a document where only perfection (a high BLEU/COMET score, like 90+) is acceptable. |
|
Post-editing Rate (P-E Rate) |
“What is your Post-Editing (P-E) rate for content matching my domain, and how is it tracked?” |
Measures efficiency and value. A high P-E Rate (e.g., 95% of machine output was reusable) means their AI is accurate and saves you money. A low rate means they're doing too much manual work, suggesting a weak AI foundation. |
|
Size of domain-data training |
“What is the size and source of the training data (corpus) used to tune the AI for my industry?” |
Measures domain expertise. Generic AI fails technical content. You need assurance the provider has a robust, specialized glossary and training data for mining, engineering, or legal terms. |
Why the Guildhawk approach stands out
Our approach is to combine these metrics to provide a multidimensional assessment of translation quality. The process is transparent: clients can see how each metric is applied when requesting an evaluation of their translation output, and what it means for their project.
Guildhawk blends human expertise with advanced technology, such as domain-specific translation training, to ensure every translation is fit for purpose. Our global network consists of 3,000 vetted linguists, many with over 15 years of partnership with us, who are available to support your translation requirements.
Best metric for industry-specific evaluation
Different industries may have unique requirements. Here’s how Guildhawk adapts it:
|
Industry |
Priorities |
Guildhawk’s adaptation |
Sample score used |
|
Manufacturing |
Accuracy, terminology, regulatory requirement |
Domain-specific vocabularies built for client’s database |
BLEU |
|
Legal |
Terminology, compliance, accuracy |
Secure workflows, custom glossaries to ensure precision |
METEOR |
|
Pharmaceutical |
Accuracy, regulatory, patient safety |
Medical linguists to check technical details; QA against medical glossaries |
METEOR |
|
Marketing& brand management |
Tone, nuance, brand consistency |
Transcreation, brand voice alignment |
COMET |
|
Mining and engineering |
Clarity, terminology, formatting |
Terminology databases, layout QA |
COMET |
|
Financial |
Regulatory, numerical accuracy |
Compliance-related glossary; secure workflow; audit trails |
METEOR |
*Note: the sample scores are reference-only and are subject to change depending on specific clientele and requirement.
Guildhawk tailor evaluation metrics and workflows to match your industry’s needs, ensuring that your translations are not only accurate, but also contextually and culturally appropriate.
- A sample use case: a client needed to translate a new industrial safety protocol manual. We used METEOR because its algorithm goes beyond simple word overlap (like BLEU) to check for contextual synonyms and phrase structure, ensuring complex engineering requirements.
However, we then add a layer of our human-expert assurance, using multidimensional quality metrics. For this high-risk manual, we set the penalty for any error categorised as Accuracy or Terminology to Critical, meaning a single detected error in those categories instantly fails the segment and triggers mandatory, immediate human revision and verification. The link between the semantic check of METEOR with a stringent, auditable ‘critical error’ penalty, ensures that our final deliverable achieves a high objective score and is fit for the high-stakes purpose.
Your checklist: how to test a translation provider
Use this checklist when comparing providers:
- Do they share their quality metrics openly?
- Can they demonstrate experience in your industry?
- Do they use both human review and AI-powered QA?
- Are your documents handled securely?
- Can they scale to meet your needs?
- Do they offer client references or case studies?
- Will they customise their approach for your requirements?
Why partner with Guildhawk
For 25 years, we value transparency and adapt to your unique needs; we are your partner committed to your success. Guildhawk’s blend of traditional and advanced metrics, combined with industry expertise of over 3,000 vetted linguists across different technical industries, ensures you receive translations you can trust.
Ready to experience translation quality you can measure?
Contact Guildhawk today for a transparent, tailored approach to your multilingual projects.
