Our Journal

TEP is a term widely used by translation agencies and companies across the world, to depict three steps, viz. Translation, Editing and Proof Reading in the translation process, in the said order, to ensure high level of quality for the final output.

Most translation agencies, either due to cost pressure or simply due to lack of knowledge, offer only the translation, or at the most proof reading (meaning one or two steps of the entire value process).

Let us see the steps in details

1: Translation

In this step, the source file is translated by the translator, who ideally should be the native linguist of the “target language”. Other additional attributes to be considered would be the translator’s educational or vocational background, skills, country, experience, knowledge of various translation tools and software etc. The job of the translator in this step would be to provide accurate, smooth and competent translation to fulfill customer’s requirement. Ideally, he should ensure that the formatting of the source document is also preserved. However, this may be difficult if the source text is provided in non-editable formats such as scans, PDFs, JPG files etc.

2: Editing

Editing is a creative and imaginative process of making the document more easily understandable by the reader, with respect to the dialect of a particular area, context, emotions, colloquial etc. Ideally, should be done by an independent resource.

3: Proof Reading

This could be an internal check mechanism, and is usually done by an in-house translator. This step includes the final check of the document.

Proof reading is more methodical and organized way of correcting the translated text w.r.t. grammar, punctuation, styling, correcting very small mistakes such a page number, figures in graph / chart etc. Usually done by the translator with proper instructions and time given. For very important document, advisable to get it done by an independent resource.

Very few translation agencies / translation companies have TEP as their standard offering. This is because, the entire process is obviously longer as well as costlier than simple translation, which is what many companies may remain satisfied with.

And then there are some translation agencies, especially in Ahmedabad, INDIA, that do set higher standards for quality.