Translation Services with a Commitment to Quality

Choosing a translation service provider to translate and localize your corporate documents may be a major decision for
your company or organization that can have significant consequences. As such, it is vital for your organization to choose
a vendor that has a proven track record, is trustworthy and reliable, and will stand behind their work – every time. That is
why some of the world’s largest global companies rely on us to manage their localization requirements. Quality, efficiency,
and accuracy are the core of our philosophy and our processes.

To ensure that our services meet the highest standards, we have implemented a rigorous Quality Management System and
obtained certification for compliance with the ISO 17100:2015 and ISO 18587:2017 Quality Standards.

Our Quality Management System (QMS) is designed to identify risks as early as possible, create effective preventative
measures, and continuously monitor our performance.

Our Quality Management System utilized in Service Level Grade I projects is described in detail below:

Comprehensive Project Review & Planning (QA):

The project review is designed to identify potential risks and create countermeasures to reduce the likelihood that these risk elements become obstacles or major issues. This review includes the following project variables:

• File preparation
• Translation memory
• Terminology, glossary/termbase
• Human-Machine-Interface terms
• Style Guide
• DTP, graphic elements
• Preliminary selection of the linguistic team (translators, bilingual editors and reviewers) that meet all ISO 17100 requirements in terms of skills, experience, and subject matter expertise
• Other project-specific considerations

Production Process (QA/QC):

The production phase comprises all the steps that are necessary to complete the translation. This part of the Quality Management System includes the following process steps:

• Final selection of linguistic team.
• Translation using state-of-the-art tools to achieve the best possible outcome.
• Comprehensive error check including the generation of a QC report using our proprietary error checking tool that is capable of identifying technical and linguistic errors  to help ensure consistent translations, including terminology, numerals, dates, punctuation, brackets, etc.

Quality Control Measures (QC)

Our Quality Control, or QC, is designed to ensure that the final product complies with all of our quality standards, as well as the specific requirements agreed upon with the client prior to delivery.  This part of the Quality Management System includes the following:

• Bilingual editing of the translation(s) by linguists that meet all ISO 17100 requirements in regard to skills, experience, and subject matter expertise.
• Compliance check with all of our quality requirements and decisions made in the  Review & Planning section
• Final content review by a Quality Control Analyst.

Adoption of Company-Specific Terminologies

Companies often develop their own glossaries in the requested target languages for describing their particular processes, products, and services. These often include company/industry-specific terminology.

In order to adopt your preferred terminology, we encourage collaboration with clients’ reviewers of the requested target languages. These discussions should preferably occur prior to getting started or during the translation process. However, circumstances sometimes require for this collaboration to occur after we deliver the finalized project and we will gladly work with our clients to accommodate this. The entire process is designed to ensure that we fully comply with your company-specific terminology, if necessary, through the preparation of and adherence to glossaries and style guides. This service is provided at no additional cost.

Qualifications of our Translators and Bilingual Editors

To further ensure that we consistently produce and maintain the highest possible degree of translation quality, all of our translators and editors
are required to comply with the international ISO 17100:2105 Quality Standard. It defines the requirements for linguists, such as the minimum
academic requirements and years of professional experience necessary to be considered for working with a certified language service provider.

To meet the standards of ISO 17100:2015, linguists must meet the following requirements:

• Demonstrate a high level of competency in their language pair(s) and in the subject matter involved
• Have an in-depth knowledge of the source language
• Have native-level fluency in the target language
• Have completed a university-level degree in a relevant field (like translating or interpreting), or have accumulated at least five years of professional experience as a translator.
• Have an excellent understanding of the subject matter field addressed in the text that they are asked to translate.

All of our translators and editors are required to undergo rigorous testing and training before they can be approved and accepted in our network.

Quality Certifications

Apex Translations is certified to conform to the requirements of the international ISO 17100:2015 and ISO 18587:2017 standards, which provide a formal framework for managing and enhancing our translation processes, as well as continuously reinforcing our commitment to maximizing customer satisfaction. Our QA and QC processes have been structured to comply with these standards and our proprietary project management system ensures that compliance is continuously maintained. Apex is additionally subject to annual ISO standard compliance audits by a globally renowned auditing agency.

ISO 17100:2015
ISO 17100:2017 covers the core processes and resources required for delivering professional translation services, including project management, translation processes, terminology management and quality assurance. Compliance with this standard is essential for all Service Level Grade I translations.

Download our ISO 17100:2015 Certificate

ISO 18587:2017
ISO 18587:2017 is a quality standard for machine translation post-editing (MTPE) services, which provides guidelines for the competencies and qualifications of MTPE providers, as well as the process and workflow of MTPE. Compliance with this standard is essential for all Service Level Grade II translations.

Download our ISO 18587:2017 Certificate