Can organizations define their own translation quality standards for DITA content?

Yes, organizations working with DITA content have the flexibility to define their own translation quality standards. These standards are essential to ensure that the translated content meets the organization’s specific linguistic and quality requirements. Organizations can tailor the quality standards to their unique needs, considering factors such as the target audience, industry, and content type.

Custom Quality Standards

Organizations can create custom quality standards that outline the linguistic, cultural, and technical requirements for translated DITA content. These standards can include guidelines for linguistic accuracy, terminology usage, cultural adaptation, visual elements, and compliance with industry-specific terminology. By defining these standards, organizations provide clear criteria for linguistic validation and quality assurance.

Example Quality Standard:

Here’s an example of a quality standard for DITA content translation:


<quality-standard id="custom-dita-translation">
  <title>Custom DITA Translation Quality Standard</title>
  <linguistic-accuracy>95% minimum linguistic accuracy required</linguistic-accuracy>
  <cultural-adaptation>Content must be culturally adapted for the target region</cultural-adaptation>
  <terminology-consistency>Consistent use of industry-specific terminology</terminology-consistency>
  <visual-elements>Visual elements should be relevant to the target audience</visual-elements>

This example of a quality standard outlines the minimum required linguistic accuracy, cultural adaptation expectations, terminology consistency, and visual elements’ relevance. These standards act as a guideline for linguists and translators to ensure that the translated content aligns with the organization’s expectations.