Quality Assessment and Economic Sustainability of Translation

Abstract

The concept of quality is mature and widespread. However, its associated attributes can only be measured against a set of specifications since quality itself is a relative concept. Today, the concept of quality broadly corresponds to product suitability – meaning that the product meets the user’s requirements. But then, how does one know when a translation is good? No answer can be given to this very simple question without recall to translation criticism and the theory of translation. However, the relationship between a source text and the translated text is unfit to solve the problem, as readers often perceive the endproduct of translation as the only material available for scrutiny; they have no interest in the translator’s decision-making process (the hermeneutic process). Therefore, translation adequacy should be taken into account in assessment especially when customers impose their own subjective preferences (requirements).