Translation Quality Checklist

Use this to check an AI-produced translation, ideally with a fluent speaker of the target language reviewing it. - Does it preserve the actual meaning, including anything implied rather than stated outright — idioms and indirect phrasing are the most common place meaning slips? - Is the register/formality appropriate for the context (a legal document, casual chat, marketing copy each need a different register), not just grammatically correct? - Are names, numbers, units, dates, and technical terms preserved or correctly localized (date formats, currency, measurement units), not silently altered? - Does it read naturally to a native speaker, or is it grammatically correct but obviously translated ("translationese")? - Is anything culturally specific (a joke, reference, idiom) adapted sensibly for the target audience, or left in a form that won't land? - For ambiguous source phrasing, did the translation pick a reasonable interpretation, or does it read as confused/garbled where the source was actually clear? - If terminology needs to stay consistent (a product name, a specific technical term), is it used consistently throughout, not translated differently in different places? Never publish or send a translation for a language you can't personally verify without having a fluent speaker check it first, especially for anything official, legal, or customer-facing.