A cover term for the creation of written output that corresponds to source content according to agreed-upon specifications. At the highest level, a translation can consist of a combination of human translation, unedited machine translation, and/or edited machine translation. A translation product is the translated content as formatted and laid out in a document, web page, or application user interface, including text and complementary components, such as graphics, video, hyperlinks, and accessibility content. For the purposes of this TQE document, a translation is a target text and its corresponding source text.
The pairing of a source text segment (a unit of text generally about a sentence long, but sometimes a heading or paragraph) with its corresponding target text segment.
The word count of a source text chosen for evaluation. The EWC can include the source text segments of the complete text or just a sample selection of source text segments, depending on what portion of the text is being evaluated. EWC is used in the calculation of the Overall Quality Score (OQS). Note that this definition is slightly modified from the definition in WK46396 3.4.4, which states that EWC is “actual number of words in a translation product, usually counted by a CAT-tool.” The question of sampling also needs to be taken into account in the definition of EWC.
The value established as the lower limit against which the quality of a translation is measured and assigned a Pass/Fail rating. If the Overall Quality Score (OQS) is below the TV, then the translation receives a “fail” rating; if the OQS is above the TV and the translation contains no critical errors, then the translation receives a “pass” rating. Threshold Values are set by MQM implementers.
The sum of all Error Type Penalty Totals (ETPTs) for a given translation evaluation project. APT is used in the calculation of the Overall Quality Score (OQS)
The quality measure of a translation product, represented as a number usually compared to 100. Note that since OQS is not a fraction, it is possible to obtain a negative OQS value. The primary variables used to calculate OQS are the Evaluation Word Count (EWC) and the Absolute Penalty Total (APT). The OQS is then compared to the Threshold Value (TV) to determine a quality rating.
The number of critical errors in an annotated text.