Comms Multilingual has specialised in the translation and adaptation of all types of test, assessment and related materials.

We offer expertise in both the clinical and industrial/organisational areas for tests and assessments.

This is a very specialist area, which demands a real understanding of both the subject matter and psychometric properties in order to achieve a successful result.

Overview

As Croatia is now a member of the EU, it was necessary for the European Personnel Selection Office to provide their recruitment assessments in Croatian.

EPSO turned to Comms Multilingual to utilise our expertise in this area so that the recruitment process could begin for people from Croatia to start working for the EU.

The first step was to ensure that clear definitions of key and ambiguous terms were put in place. Once this was completed, the translation and adaptation process could start.

It is very important to allow enough time for the preparation part of the project as this will have an impact on quality.

Process Steps

The translation teams selected for this project were chosen for their expertise in the translation of assessments. They were qualified and experienced translators, who also offered qualifications and practical experience in I/O psychology.

We always test out our translators before using them and we take up references as well in order to ensure quality.

We carried out the initial translation into Croatian and then the translation was sent to an independent proofreader/editor for quality checking purposes.

European Standard

Comms Multilingual is currently going through the process of obtaining certification under the European Standard for Translation. It is a requirement of this standard that all projects should be translated and then independently proofread.

Back translation

The next step was the back translation process, where the translated text was translated back into the original language (in this case, English).

This is an important part of the whole quality control process that is vital for such projects. The translation was carried out by a native English speaker and proofread/edited by a second linguist.

Quality Control

We then moved on to the quality control phase, where our own in-house experts carried out a thorough review of the original text against the back translation. We produced and delivered a final version for our client’s review.

Our client carried out a thorough review and we went through a couple of rounds of amends until we had a version for final checking.

In this particular case, our client had native-speaker expert reviewers, on whom they could call, to assist them with the review process.

If our clients don’t have access to their own native-speaker reviewers, then Comms can provide independent reviewers for such projects.

Result

This assessment is now being successfully used by EPSO to recruit candidates from Croatia to work for the EU.

Please contact us with the details of your projects and we will be happy to provide you with a quotation.