National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of ISO 18587:2017.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee TS/1, Terminology.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its secretary.

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 April 2017.

Foreword

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The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 37, Terminology and other language and content resources, Subcommittee SC 5, Translation, interpreting and related technology.

Introduction

The use of machine translation (MT) systems to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding translation and localization industry has been gaining ground. Many translation service providers (TSPs) and clients have come to realize that the use of such systems is a viable solution for translating projects that need to be completed within a very tight time frame and/or with a reduced budget. When an MT system is used, clients can have material translated that can otherwise not be translated; translation costs can be decreased and the launch of products on specific markets, as well as the flow of information, can be accelerated. On the other hand, TSPs are able to:

improve translation productivity;
improve turn-around times;
remain competitive in an environment where clients show an increasing demand for using MT in translation.

However, there is no MT system with an output which can be qualified as equal to the output of human translation and, therefore, the final quality of the translation output still depends on human translators and, for this purpose, their competence in post-editing.

The rate at which MT systems are changing renders it impractical to produce an overarching International Standard on these systems, which could stifle innovation or be ignored by the translation technology development industry.

This document therefore restricts its provisions to that part of the process that begins upon the delivery of the MT output and the beginning of the human process that is known as post-editing.

1 Scope

This document provides requirements for the process of full, human post-editing of machine translation output and post-editors’ competences.

This document is intended to be used by TSPs, their clients, and post-editors.

It is only applicable to content processed by MT systems.

NOTE For translation services in general, see ISO 17100.

2 Normative References

3 Terms and definitions

3.1 Concepts related to machine translation

3.2 Concepts related to language and content

3.3 Concepts related to people or organizations

3.4 Concepts related to translation

4 Post-editing process

4.1 General

4.2 Pre-production processes

4.3 Production processes

4.4 Post-production processes

5 Competences and qualifications of post-editors

5.1 Competences

5.2 Qualifications

5.3 Professionalism

6 Requirements of full post-editing

Bibliography

BS ISO 18587:2017

Translation services. Post-editing of machine translation output. Requirements

Current, Under Review

Published:

30 Apr 2017