Featured Translation Project – Inova Health System

Language Services Associates (LSA), a leading provider of professional translation services, was recently tasked with translating an online survey for Inova Health System, Northern Virginia’s leading not-for-profit healthcare provider, in the following six languages: Arabic, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, Urdu and Vietnamese.  The LSA Inova Project Manager, Patty Gonzalez, sat down to answer some questions about this translation project.

How long has Inova been a translation client of LSA’s?

Through our premier professional translation services, LSA has proudly been helping Inova meet its translation and localization needs since 2009.

Can you take us, step by step, through the Inova survey project from LSA’s standpoint?

This project was submitted through INTERPRETRAC<sup>®</sup>, LSA’s online portal.  As soon as the request was received by LSA’s professional translation services team, we carefully reviewed the documents to determine cost and turnaround time.  Since Inova wanted this survey available online, we had to make sure to use an online survey tool that supported the right to left languages that needed to be translated (Arabic, Farsi and Urdu).  All of this was discussed in great detail on several conference calls with the Inova team.  We ended up translating the survey using WorldServer and Trados, and then a Linguist for each language input and proofread the translation inQuestionPro.

What did Inova hope to accomplish with the distribution of this survey?

The goal of this survey was for Inova to assess the current health needs of the local community.  By having this survey available in various languages, it would allow Inova to broaden the reach of their efforts.

Which translation method was used to complete this project?

TEP Translation(Translation, Editing and Proofreading) was the method LSA used for the translation of the Inova survey.  Per the client’s request, all Inova translation projects follow the TEP Translation method.

What challenges did you face, if any, when working on this project?  How did your team come up with solutions to meet these challenges?

The main challenge we encountered was that the original online survey tool did not support right to left languages, and three of the six languages we needed to translate fell into this category.  As a result, Inova went in search of other tools that had the capability to support Arabic, Farsi and Urdu.  QuestionPro was the selected software, but while it did fully support Arabic, some adjustments had to be made to accommodate Urdu and Farsi.  LSA ended up translating the validation prompts for these two languages only, and we provided them to the client in a two-column document so the Inova IT team could make the necessary changes to the system.  Once this task was complete, we were able to enter the additional languages in QuestionPro.

What is the current status of the Inova survey project?

This project was completed and delivered to the client on May 18th, 2012. Inova posted the survey that day and will be promoting it throughout the summer. They have had over 800 respondents so far. The survey results will be used by Inova leadership to plan community services for 2013. The survey will be revised and repeated every three years. LSA is ready to partner with Inova on their future needs regarding this initiative and any other professional translation services they may require.

Inova invites all residents of Northern Virginia (Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun Counties) to participate in this survey.  Please visit Inova on the Web at www.inova.org/community and click on the TAKE HEALTH SURVEY icon.  From there, you will be able to select the language you would like to take the survey in.