Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM) Issue Types
Copyright
Copyright ©2015, Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH / German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and QTLaunchPad.
Content license:

Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM) by Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI)/QTLaunchPad is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://qt21.eu/mqm-definition.
Restrictions on use of the names “Multidimensional Quality Metrics”/MQM:
The name “Multidimensional Quality Metrics” and the acronym MQM are not included in the above license. Derivative works that change the content of this specification MUST attribute the contributions from this work but MUST NOT claim to be “Multidimensional Quality Metrics” or “MQM”. Derivative works MUST therefore use a distinct name that does not imply endorsement of changes. However, implementations of MQM as set forth in this document may state that they implement or use MQM without any special permissions.
Editors
- Arle Lommel (DFKI)
- Aljoscha Burchardt (DFKI)
- Attila Görög (TAUS)
- Hans Uszkoreit (DFKI)
- Alan K. Melby (LTAC Global)
Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to the following individuals for their contributions:
- Serge Gladkoff (Logrus)
- Leonid Glazychev (Logrus)
- Kim Harris (text&form)
- Dale Schultz (IBM)
- Jean-François Vanreusel (Adobe)
Document status
This document contains a list of the MQM issue types. This version is a stable version and can be used for implementation.
Feedback
Feedback on this document should be submitted to info@qt21.eu.
Overview
This document defines the issue types used by the Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM) framework. It contains a description of the issue types. For a full definition of MQM, please read the MQM definition file at http://www.qt21.eu/mqm-definition/definition-2015-12-30.html.
1. MQM Issue types (normative)
MQM defines a total of over 100 issue types, as defined in this section. They are derived from an examination of major quality assessment systems, both ones based on automatic detection of issues and ones based on manual assessment by reviewers. As quality assessment systems differ considerably in the issues they check, the MQM issue types represent a (non-strict) superset of issues found in translations (as product, as opposed to process). The superset is non-strict because it represents an abstraction of various systems and, in some cases, is less granular than actual systems. For example, an existing system might distinguish between four kinds of issues related to whitespace, but MQM would categorize all of them as Whitespace (whitespace
). Information on extending MQM is available in the MQM definition.
In this document MQM issue types are referred to by name followed by the MQM ID value in parentheses on a gray background, e.g., Issue name (issue-name
). The issue ID values are linked to the full description of the issue below.
MTM issues exist in a hierarchy, with more specific issues lower in the hierarchy constituting “subtypes” of their parents. For example the issue type Mistranslation (mistranslation
) is a subtype of the more general issue type Accuracy (accuracy
). Because the issues exist in a hierarchy, rather than as a flat list, MQM can be realized at any level of granularity. At one extreme an MQM-compliant metric could check only two high-level issues, Accuracy (accuracy
) and Fluency (fluency
); at the other extreme a metric could check all issues defined in MQM. In most cases the number of issues checked will be somewhere between these extremes. Guidance on selecting issue sets can be found in MQM definition. As a general rule, metrics should check the fewest number of issues possible to achieve the requirements of users.
This section presents the hierarchy of MQM issues, followed by the detailed description of each issue type.
At the top level, MQM issues are grouped into eight major branches or “dimensions”: Accuracy (accuracy
), Fluency (fluency
), Terminology (terminology
), Locale convention (locale-convention
), Style (style
), Verity (verity
), Design (design
), and Internationalization (internationalization
). It also contains Other (other
), used for issues that cannot be assigned elsewhere, and Compatibility (Deprecated) (compatibility
), a branch that contains deprecated issues that are retained for compatibility with legacy systems, notably the LISA QA Model. These seven dimensions represent the top level in the MQM hierarchy and themselves may serve as issue types in cases where no further granularity is needed.
These dimensions may be graphically represented as follows (dimensions in bold are in the “MQM Core”):
Issue type names are not case-sensitive (i.e., “Mistranslation”, “MISTRANSLATION”, “mistranslation”, and “MiStRaNsLaTiOn” are all equivalent). The ID values, however, are case sensitive (and are always lower-case) and do not contain spaces. As a result, implementers should ensure that they do not confuse the two, even though in most cases they are nearly identical.
1.1. Hierarchical list of issue types
The following list of issue types presents the full list of MQM categories in hierarchy. Clicking on any issue type name in the lists will take the reader to the definition of the issue type in the next section. The list is separated into sections by dimension. For those dimensions where current sub-issues are defined, a “mind map” shows the hierarchy of the dimension. Clicking on the embedded image will open and SVG version in a new window. Issues in bold in the graphics or the list are part of the “MQM core”. The graphical versions include both the issue name, which might be localized or displayed in some other fashion in an application, and the ID, which MUST remain as given to provide an unambiguous reference to a particular issue type.
1.1.1. Accuracy
Accuracy issues address the relationship of the target text to the source text and can be assessed only by considering this relationship. Changes in intended meaning, addition and omission of content, and similar issues are considered in it.
1.1.2. Compatibility (Deprecated)
The Compatibility dimension includes issues taken from legacy metrics that are not considered appropriate for general use in MQM (because they are related to areas not covered by MQM, such as deadlines, software functionality, or physical production). They are included only for compatibility with these older metrics and should not be used for new MQM metrics.
1.1.3. Design
Design includes issues related to the physical presentation of text, typically in a “rich text” or “markup” environment.
1.1.4. Fluency
Fluency includes those issues about the linguistic “well-formedness” of the text that can be assessed without regard to whether the text is a translation or not. Most Fluency issues apply equally to source and target texts.
1.1.5. Internationalization
Internationalization covers areas related to the preparation of the source content for subsequent translation or localization. Internationalization issues may be detected through problems found in the target (particularly from those included in Locale convention (locale-convention
)), but an Internationalization audit is generally conducted separately from a general assessment of translation quality.
1.1.6. Locale convention
Issues in Locale convention relate to the formal compliance of content with locale-specific conventions, such as use of proper number formats. If content is otherwise correctly translated and fluent but violates specific locale expectations (as defined in the translation specifications), it is addressed in this dimension. This dimension does not cover issues related to whether the content itself is appropriate for the locale (these issues are covered under Verity (verity
).
1.1.7. Style
Style issues relate to what is commonly known as “Style”, defined both formally (in style guides) and informally (e.g., a “light style” or an “engaging style”). These issues are closely related to fluency, but are often treated separately by tools and quality processes and so are grouped as a separate dimension in MQM.
1.1.8. Terminology
Terminology issues relate to the use of domain- or organization-specific terminology (i.e., the use of words to relate to specific concepts not considered part of general language). Adherence to specified terminology is widely considered an issue of central concern in both translation and content authoring. Issues in this branch should not be used for general language mistranslation (e.g., translations that would not be considered correct under reasonable circumstances), and should be reserved for issues related to terminology (e.g., a translation is reasonable but incorrect in the context of specific technical domain or for a particular organization).
1.1.9. Verity
Verity issues relate to the suitability of content for the target locale and audience. They do not relate to fluency or accuracy since content may be fluently written and accurately translated and still be inappropriate for the target locale or audience. For example, if a text translated for Germans in Germany refers to options available only in the UK, these portions will likely be problematic. For more details on Verity, see the discussion below.
As Verity (verity
) is a relatively new concept in translation quality assessment, some examples may help clarify its usage and how it differs from general Accuracy (accuracy
) or Fluency (fluency
). Note that issues in this branch may be checked in separate processes relating to market compliance before translation begins or may be subject to discussion and negotiation between the requester and the provider.
The examples are:
- An computer advertisement written in the U.S. directly compares a computer’s features with those of a competitor to conclude that the advertiser’s computer is better that its competitor’s. While this sort of advertisement is perfectly acceptable in U.S., it is illegal under German law. As a result an accurate and fluent translation of the advertisement would subject the maker to potential legal penalties. The appropriate German version would therefore highlight strengths of the computer in absolute terms without reference to a competitor. Note: The necessary changes in such a case are often included under the rubric of transcreation. This issue is classified under Legal requirements (
legal-requirements
)
- A user guide for a wireless Internet base station is translated, but includes unnecessary legal notifications from the source text and omits needed notifications for the target locale. This issue is classified under Legal requirements (
legal-requirements
)
- A Hungarian-language novel being translated into Quebec French includes references to Hungarian popular culture and music. When translated in a way that would be appropriate for a French speaker living in Hungary who is familiar with Hungarian culture, these references are unintelligible to the target audience in Quebec. As a result the text includes Verity errors and the appropriate translation for the specifications involves substituting in appropriate Quebecoise pop culture and musical references. These issues can be categorized under Culture-specific reference (
culture-specific
)
- A text is written in a conceptually complex fashion that makes it inaccessible for its intended audience of high-school students (even though the overall register is appropriate). The suitability does not depend on the locale or whether or not the text is translated. It can be categorized as End-user suitability (
end-user-suitability
).
- An automobile service manual for a British automobile assumes a right-hand drive automobile and includes descriptions of parts for that drive system. When the manual is used in the United States, these references are no longer appropriate to the automobile and must be modified to reflect the use of left-hand drive systems in the U.S., including swapping left and right in physical descriptions of some parts. These issues can be categorized as Locale-specific content (
locale-specific-content
).
- A document translated from German to U.S. Spanish includes references to European type electrical plugs (which would be appropriate for the product when sold in Spain). These references must be changed to match the physical characteristics of the product as sold in the U.S. This would be classified under Locale-specific content (
locale-specific-content
).
- A service manual omits needed steps from the description of a technical process, making it impossible to complete the process as written. (Note: this is an example of a monolingual Verity problem that exists independently of the whether the text is translated or not.) This issue is categorized as Incomplete procedure (
incomplete-procedure
).
- A text written for an audience of college-educated agriculture managers is translated for use in another country where the local managers are trained on the job and cannot be assumed to have the same education. As a result, the text contains references to knowledge and background that cannot be assumed in the target audience. This problem is an example of the type End-user suitability (
end-user-suitability
). Here the text must be changed and clarified for the intended audience.
- In a fictional work, an individual sees people dressed in black and thinks of a funeral, but when translated in a covert translation (i.e., a translation that should appear as though it were written in the target locale and language) this association does not work because black is traditionally worn in weddings rather than funerals in the target locale. This would be classified as Culture-specific reference (
culture-specific
).
- A verification form for password security requests users to provide the name of the street they grew up on. However, in some countries there are no street names, and addresses refer to “colonies” and blocks within a colony instead. As a result, the question does not make sense to the target audience. This issue would be categorized as Culture-specific reference (
culture-specific
).
1.1.10. Other
This dimension is used for issues which cannot be otherwise classified into a dimension of MQM. In cases where an unforeseen issue can be classified as belonging to a dimension, it should be classified in that dimension under the top level or using a custom issue type. In practice Other should be used extremely rarely.
1.2. Detailed listing of MQM issue types
This section lists all MQM issue types in alphabetical order, with the following information:
Name
The name is the English name for the issue type. This name may be localized in other languages or may be changed in a UI to reflect application-specific preferences. (For example, if an existing system is being converted to use MQM categories and already has an issue type called Terminology problem that corresponds to Terminology (terminology
), the UI may display the existing name but refer to the ID value terminology
internally for mapping purposes. For new English-language implementations, however, it is recommended to use the existing name to prevent confusion.)
ID | An XML identifier for the category. This ID is used to refer unambiguously to each issue type and does not change, even if a UI may display other names for the category. |
Definition | A definition of the issue type |
MQM Core? | (yes|no) Specifies whether the issue is in the MQM core (see the definition of the MQM Core) or not. |
Automatable? | (yes|no) Informative: Indicates whether the issue may be automatically detected. Users interested in fully automatable subsets of MQM may wish to limit themselves to issues marked with “yes”. This specification does not provide any guidance on how to check issues automatically and detection may require language-specific modules or development. Success in detecting issues depends on factors outside the scope of this specification and individual systems may be able to identify issues not identified as automatable in this specification. |
Parent | The parent of the issue type in the hierarchy. Each issue can be understood as a type of its parent. |
Children | A list of any children to the current issue type. |
Applies to | Whether the category applies to target, source, or both |
Example(s) | One or more illustrative examples of the issue type |
Note(s) | Any notes on usage for the issue type. |
Accuracy
Added markup
ID | added-markup |
Definition | The target text has markup added with no corresponding markup in the source. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | markup |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A source segment has no formatting tags, but the target has a set of italic tags.
|
Note(s) | |
Addition
ID | addition |
Definition | The target text includes text not present in the source. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | accuracy |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A translation includes portions of another translation that were inadvertently pasted into the document.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | address-format |
Definition | Content uses the wrong format for addresses. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | postal-code |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An online form translated from English to Hindi requires a street number even though many addresses in India do not include a house number.
|
Note(s) | |
Address internationalization
ID | address-internationalization |
Definition | An inport form, database, or other software component does not properly support international address formats |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A form enforces a US model of street addresses that does not apply in many target languages and does not support notation of districts or other important features of addresses in some countries.
|
Note(s) | |
Agreement
ID | agreement |
Definition | Two or more words do not agree with respect to case, number, person, or other grammatical features |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | word-form |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “They was expecting a report.”
|
Note(s) | |
Ambiguity
ID | ambiguity |
Definition | The text is ambiguous in its meaning. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | fluency |
Children | unclear-reference |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “I cannot recommend this too highly.” (The meaning can be that the speaker cannot make a good recommendation or that it is highly recommended.)
|
Note(s) | - This issue is distinguished from
ambiguous-translation by its focus on monolingual ambiguity. In cases where the translation process has introduced ambiguity, ambiguous-translation should be used instead, if it is included in a metric. However, any ambiguity in a source text would be classified under this issue.
|
Ambiguous translation
ID | ambiguous-translation |
Definition | An unambiguous source text is translated ambiguously |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A text that means that someone is highly recommended is translated as “I cannot recommend this too highly.” (The meaning can be that the speaker cannot make a good recommendation or that it is highly recommended.)
|
Note(s) | - This issue is distinct from
ambiguity in that it is limited to issues where the translation process has introduced the ambiguity.
|
Awkward
ID | awkward |
Definition | A text is written with an awkward style |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | style |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A text is written with many embedded clauses and an excessively wordy style. While the meaning can be understood, the text is very awkward and difficult to follow.
|
Note(s) | |
Bi-di support
ID | bi-di-support |
Definition | The software cannot support bi-directional scripts, such as Arabic and Hebrew |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | writing-system-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - Text in Arabic is displayed left-to-right rather than right-to-left.
|
Note(s) | |
Bold/italic
ID | bold-italic |
Definition | Bold or italics are used incorrectly. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | font |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A book title should have been italicized, but the italics were omitted.
|
Note(s) | |
Calendar internationalization
ID | calendar-internationalization |
Definition | Software does not support one or more calendar types needed for some locales. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A task-management system designed in the U.S. displays Sunday as the first day of the week, while many countries list it as the last day of the week.
- A website displays all dates according to the Gregorian calendar, but the target audience in much of the Middle East prefers to use the Islamic calendar.
|
Note(s) | - This issue does not apply to cases where dates are displayed in the wrong format, but according to the right calendar system.
- Corresponds to
calendar-format in locale-convention . This is used to mark engineering problems in the source content, not specific problems in the target.
|
Calendar type
ID | calendar-type |
Definition | Content uses the wrong type of calendar. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A tourism text translated from Arabic English gives a year as 1435, but it should have been converted from the Islamic calendar to the Gregorian calendar year 2014.
|
Note(s) | |
Call-outs and captions
ID | call-outs-captions |
Definition | There are issues with call-outs (text within a graphic that identifies parts) or captions. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | graphics-tables |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - During localization the location of numbers used for call-outs has been shifted and the call-outs are no longer usable.
|
Note(s) | |
Capitalization
ID | capitalization |
Definition | Issues related to capitalization |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | spelling |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The name John Smith is written as “john smith”
|
Note(s) | |
Case folding
ID | case-folding |
Definition | Text casing routines do not support needed languages |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - In Turkish the upper-case form of i is İ and the lower-case form of I is ı. As a result case-changing algorithms that are not internationalized and aware of Turkish will change the case of these characters incorrectly.
|
Note(s) | |
Character encoding
ID | character-encoding |
Definition | Characters are garbled due to incorrect application of an encoding. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text document in UTF-8 encoding is opened as ISO Latin-1, resulting in all “upper ASCII” characters being garbled.
|
Note(s) | |
Character set support
ID | character-set-support |
Definition | Software does not support character sets needed for specific locales |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A database application cannot process or produce text stored in ISO Latin 6 (Nordic) encoding and so cannot interface with needed legacy systems in Norway.
|
Note(s) | |
Coherence
ID | coherence |
Definition | The text is not coherent |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - While individual sentences of the text are all perfectly fluent, the text as a whole does not make sense and is inconsistent with itself.
|
Note(s) | - Since coherence applies above the segment level, this issue type would generally be assessed with a holistic metric rather than an analytic one, although any claims that a text is not coherent should be able to point to specific portions and problems. Often these specific problems can be classified as
coherence or inconsistency issues in an analytic metric.
|
Cohesion
ID | cohesion |
Definition | Portions of the text needed to connect it into an understandable whole (e.g., reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion) are missing or incorrect. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An English text is missing conjunctions and particles (e.g., “thus”, “therefore”, “but”, and “however”) needed for the logic of the text to be clear.
|
Note(s) | - Cohesion applies at the local level to incorrect or missing elements needed for the intended meaning of the text to be clear. Cohesion problems at the local level may contribute to
coherence problems for the text as a whole.
|
Color internationalization
ID | color-internationalization |
Definition | Use of colors is fixed and not adaptable to other locales |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | graphical-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A UK-based website uses a red, white, and blue color scheme and hard-codes these colors into graphical assets and inline styles. When translated for China, these colors are inappropriate but cannot be changed because of the way they are encoded into the site.
|
Note(s) | - This issue type does not apply merely to the use of culture-specific colors, but rather to cases where the colors are not made accessible to the localization process and so cannot be changed.
|
Color
ID | color |
Definition | Colors are used incorrectly |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Headings should be blue but are green instead.
|
Note(s) | |
Company style
ID | company-style |
Definition | The text violates company/organization-specific style guidelines. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | style |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Company style states that passive sentences may not be used but the text uses passive sentences.
|
Note(s) | |
Company terminology
ID | terminology-company |
Definition | The text violates company/organization-specific terminology guidelines as specified in a termbase. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | termbase |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Company-specific terminology guidelines specify that a product be called the “Acme Turbo2000™”, but the text calls it the “Acme Turbo” or the “Turbo200”.
|
Note(s) | - Should be used when it is necessary to distinguish company-specific terminology issues from more general
termbase issues.
|
Compatibility (Deprecated)
ID | compatibility |
Definition | The Compatibility extension contains items which may be used for compatibility with legacy metrics even though they would otherwise not be included in MQM. Most of these issue types are taken from the LISA QA Model documentation. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | The following issue types (presented without definition) are included in the Compatibility branch: - Application compatibility
- Bill of materials/runlist
- Book-building sequence
- Covers
- Deadline
- Delivery
- Does not adhere to specifications
- Embedded text
- File format
- Functional
- Output device
- Printing
- Release guide
- Spines
- Style, publishing standards
- Terminology, contextually inappropriate
|
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A quality process checks the LISA QA Model issue “Book-building sequence” and it is included for compatibility with legacy processes
|
Note(s) | - Use of these categories is not recommended and these issue types are to be considered deprecated. They are included only for compatibility with legacy processes.
- Since
compatibility is not a coherent category, use of this category itself is not recommended in any circumstance, although the children categories listed above may be used for compatibility purposes.
|
Completeness
ID | completeness |
Definition | The text is incomplete |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | verity |
Children | incomplete-list , incomplete-procedure |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A process description leaves out key steps needed to complete the process, resulting in an incomplete description of the process.
|
Note(s) | completeness refers to instances in which needed content is missing in the source language. For cases where material present in the source language is not present in a translation, omission should be used instead.
|
Complexity
ID | complexity |
Definition | Different cultures expect different levels of complexity and presentation of information in user interfaces. If the amount of information is too much or too little for a culture, users will perceive the user interface negatively |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | ui-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A user interface developed in Sweden has a minimalist aesthetic, but when localized into China, Chinese users expect to find information in the UI that is normally hidden under various options. As a result they may find it frustrating and difficult to use.
|
Note(s) | - Solving this problem may involve extensive adaptation of localized versions and may not be solvable by simple internationalization steps.
|
Concatenation
ID | concatenation |
Definition | Text is concatenated in ways that will not function properly when the text is translated |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A localizable string contains the following:
"You have found the ".$item.". Do you wish to pick it up?" . When translated this string will cause problems because the article before the item and the equivalent of “it” will both need to be changed to reflect the content of the variable $item.
|
Note(s) | |
Confusable security
ID | confusable-security |
Definition | Software does not provide any security protection against easily confusable character such as Latin-script A, Greek Α, and Cyrillic А, thus allowing users to impersonate other users’ names. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - Users can select user names with any valid, non-control Unicode characters. As a result a user creates the user name Тоny (with the first two letters in Cyrillic) to impersonate an administrative user with the name Tony (all in Latin script).
|
Note(s) | - This issue has emerged with the advent of pervasive Unicode support that allows multiple scripts to be combined in input. Solving this problem requires careful parsing of input.
|
ID | corpus-conformance |
Definition | The content is deemed to have a level of conformance to a reference corpus. The non-conformance type reflects the degree to which the text conforms to a reference corpus given an algorithm that combines several classes of error type to produce an aggregate rating. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reading “The harbour connected which to printer is busy or configared not properly” is flagged by a language analysis tool as suspect based on its lack of conformance to an existing corpus.
|
Note(s) | - One example of this issue type might involve output from a quality estimation system that delivers a warning that a text has a very low quality estimation score.
|
Culture-specific graphic
ID | culture-specific-graphic |
Definition | Graphics embed cultural assumptions or references and cannot be changed |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | graphical-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A graphic depicts a “road trip” by showing sights familiar to a German audience that would be unknown in other locales.
|
Note(s) | - If graphics can be easily changed in the localization process, this issue does not apply.
|
Culture-specific reference
ID | culture-specific |
Definition | Content inappropriately uses a culture-specific reference that will not be understandable to the intended audience |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An English text refers to steps in a process as “First base”, “Second base”, and “Third base”, and to successful completion as a “Home run” and uses other metaphors from baseball. These prove difficult to translate and confuse the target audience in Germany.
- An marketing text in Greek includes reference to popular Greek music. When translated into English these references are not understandable to the target audience.
|
Note(s) | - In the cases of texts that were written with the intention that they be translated, this issue may indicate a broader conceptual or Internationalization problem.
|
ID | currency-format |
Definition | Content uses the wrong format for currency. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text dealing with business transactions from English into Hindi assumes that all currencies will be expressed in simple units, while the convention in India is to give such prices in lakh rupees (100,000 rupees)
|
Note(s) | |
Currency internationalization
ID | currency-internationalization |
Definition | A system does not support multiple currencies or specific currencies needed for individual markets |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - An online commerce form displays all amounts in euros, but customers use the form in countries that use other currencies.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | date-format |
Definition | A text uses a date format inappropriate for its locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An English text has “2012-06-07” instead of the expected “06/07/2012.”
|
Note(s) | |
Date internationalization
ID | date-internationalization |
Definition | Date formats are not properly internationalized |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A system displayes all dates as "Dd/Mm/Yy", resulting in dates that cannot be understood correctly in much of the world.
|
Note(s) | - Corresponds to
date-format in locale-convention . This is used to mark engineering problems in the source content, not specific problems in the target.
|
Date/time
ID | date-time |
Definition | Dates or times do not match between source and target. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A German source text provides the date 09.02.09 (=February 9, 2009) but the English target renders it as September 2, 2009.
- An English source text specifies a time of “4:40 PM” but this is rendered as 04:40 (=4:40 AM) in a German translation.
|
Note(s) | |
Design
ID | design |
Definition | There is a problem relating to design aspects (vs. linguistic aspects) of the content. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | graphics-tables , hyphenation , length , local-formatting , markup , missing-text , truncation-text-expansion , overall-design ,
|
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A document is formatted incorrectly
|
Note(s) | - Design issues may exist either in documentions in isolation (e.g., a second-level heading is formatted as a first-level heading) or in relationship between source and target (e.g., headings are formatted differently between source and target).
|
Diacritics
ID | diacritics |
Definition | Issues related to the use of diacritics |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | spelling |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The Hungarian word bőven (using o with a double acute (˝)) is spelled as bõven, using a tilde (˜), which is not found in Hungarian.
|
Note(s) | |
Document-external link
ID | document-external-link |
Definition | A link or cross reference points to an incorrect or nonexistent location outside of the same document within which it occurs |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | broken-link |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A link in an HTML document points to a U.S. government URL that has moved and no longer exists.
|
Note(s) | |
Document-internal link
ID | document-internal-link |
Definition | A link or cross reference points to an incorrect or nonexistent location within the same document within which it occurs. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | broken-link |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An internal link refers to the location “#section5” but there is no anchor “section5” in the document.
|
Note(s) | |
Duplication
ID | duplication |
Definition | Content has been duplicated (e.g., a word or longer portion of text is repeated unintentionally). |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “The man the man whom she saw…”
- A paragraph appears verbatim twice in a row.
|
Note(s) | |
Embedded string in code
ID | embedded-string-in-code |
Definition | String references are embedded in computer code rather than externalized to resource files. As a result the string content is accessible only by manipulatin the source code of the application. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | embedded-string |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - Error messages for a product are stored as variables directly in the source code of a software product and are therefore not localized when UI strings are sent for translation.
|
Note(s) | |
Embedded string in graphic
ID | embedded-string-in-graphic |
Definition | A graphics contains embedded text as an image that cannot be edited |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | embedded-string |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A service manual contains an image of a mechanical system with part labels stored in the “flattened” graphic. As a result the localization process cannot produce localized versions of the graphic
|
Note(s) | - Solving this problem generally requires access to original application files used to produce graphics initially rather than to rendered down-stream versions use for web display, display in software UIs, or embedding in word-processing applications.
|
Embedded string
ID | embedded-string |
Definition | Textual content is embedded in other elements in ways that make it inaccessible during the localization process. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | embedded-string-in-code , embedded-string-in-graphic |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - The UI of an industrial system includes graphical images of text that cannot be edited as text.
|
Note(s) | - The subtypes of this issue comprise the most common examples.
|
End-user suitability
ID | end-user-suitability |
Definition | The content is not suitable for use by the end user, excluding problems related to suitability for the target locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | verity |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text describes a process to repair a device, but following the instructions leads to serious damage to the device and potential injury.
- A text assumes that the reader has knowledge of advanced particular physics, but the target audience does not generally have this knowledge.
|
Note(s) | - If the issue relates to the applicability of the content to users in a particular locale,
locale-specific-content should be used instead. - End-user suitability generally applies to issues present in the source text, regardless of the target locale, but may apply in cases where there are distinct differences in audience or purpose between source and target.
|
Entity (such as name or place)
ID | entity |
Definition | Names, places, or other “named entities” do not match |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - The source text refers to Dublin, Ohio, but the target incorrectly refers to Dublin, Ireland.
|
Note(s) | |
False friend
ID | false-friend |
Definition | The translation has incorrectly used a word that is superficially similar to the source word. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - The Italian word simpatico has been translated as sympathetic in English.
|
Note(s) | |
Fixed collation
ID | fixed-collation |
Definition | A collation (text sorting) routine does not support locale-specific collation sequences |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - The sort routine in a spreadsheet does a simple sort by Unicode code-point sequence, and does not support needed collation sequences for various markets.
|
Note(s) | - Specific results of this problem will often be classified under
sorting .
|
Fixed dialog/UI size
ID | fixed-dialog-ui-size |
Definition | Dialog boxes or other UI components are fixed in size and cannot adapt to different amounts of content in other languages. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | ui-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A section for displaying errors in a UI is limited to 200 pixels in width and cannot expand to accommodate longer error messages in another language.
|
Note(s) | - Many UI frameworks automatically support dynamic width adjustment. Home-built UIs are particularly prone to this problem.
|
Fluency
ID | fluency |
Definition | Issues related to the form or content of a text, irrespective as to whether it is a translation or not. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | ambiguity , character-encoding , coherence , cohesion , corpus-conformance , grammar , grammatical-register , inconsistency , index-toc , link-crossreference , non-allowed-characters , pattern-problem , sorting , spelling , style , typography , unintelligible |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text has errors in it that prevent it from being understood.
|
Note(s) | - If an issue can be detected only by comparing the source and target, it MUST NOT be categorized as
fluency or any of its children.
|
Font rendering engine
ID | font-rendering-engine |
Definition | Fonts for one or more scripts are not rendered properly |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | writing-system-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - Arabic text entered into a system does not display appropriate contextual variations (ligatures) and instead uses only medial character forms, rendering the result unreadable.
|
Note(s) | - Font-rendering problems are extremely common in software that has not previously been adapted to support “complex” scripts.
|
Font, single/double-width (CJK only)
ID | single-double-width |
Definition | Single-width characters are used when double-width are intended, or vice versa. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | font |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A Japanese text includes カタカナ (full-width kana) when specifications required カタカナ (half-width kana) instead, due to a limited display size.
|
Note(s) | |
Font
ID | font |
Definition | Issues related to local font usage (i.e., font choices that impact a span of content rather than the global choice of the document). |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | local-formatting |
Children | bold-italic , single-double-width , wrong-font-size |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Warning texts are set in sans-serif, but one of them appears in a serif font.
- A portion of Japanese text is set with an obliqued face (corresponding to italics in the source text) when dot accents should have been used with a non-oblique face.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | footnote-format |
Definition | Footnotes or endnotes are placed inappropriately or use incorrect in-text symbols |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Specifications state that endnotes should be used with roman numerals but footnotes were used with in-text symbols (*, †, ‡, etc.).
|
Note(s) | |
Function words
ID | function-words |
Definition | A function word (e.g., a preposition, “helping verb”, article, determiner) is used incorrectly. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | grammar |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “Check the part number as given in the screen” instead of “…on the screen”.
- A text reads “The graphic is then copied into an internal memory” instead of “The graphic is copied to internal memory.”
|
Note(s) | |
Functional
ID | functional |
Definition | Functional errors introduced by lack of support for languages, scripts, or other locale-specific features |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | case-folding , character-set-support , fixed-collation , hard-coded-keyboard-command , input-validation , missing-fall-back-text , string-matching , text-corruption , text-indexing , time-zone-support , writing-system-support |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - The French version of a software package fails to function as expected because it was engineered with assumptions based on American English.
|
Note(s) | - If child issues are included, most issues in this category would be assigned to them.
|
Global font choice
ID | global-font-choice |
Definition | The overall font chosen is incorrect or inappropriate. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A English source text uses a normal-weight serif font for body text but the Japanese translation uses a heavy-weight “gothic” (roughly, sans-serif) font appropriate for headlines only.
|
Note(s) | - While this issue may apply to both source and target, it is most likely to apply to the target.
|
Grammar checker
ID | grammar-checker |
Definition | A needed grammar checking is missing or does not support the required language. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | language-specific-tool-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - The grammar checker in a word processor sold in Germany supports English only.
|
Note(s) | |
Grammar
ID | grammar |
Definition | Issues related to the grammar or syntax of the text, other than spelling and orthography. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | function-words , word-form , word-order |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An English text reads “The man was seeing the his wife.”
|
Note(s) | |
Grammatical register
ID | grammatical-register |
Definition | The content uses the wrong grammatical register, such as using informal pronouns or verb forms when their formal counterparts are required. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | accuracy |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text used for a highly formal announcement uses the Norwegian du form instead of the expected De.
|
Note(s) | - For cases of general stylistic formality that do not involve the incorrect use of grammatical markers of formality,
register should be used instead.
|
Graphical aspects
ID | graphical-internationalization |
Definition | Graphical aspects of the content cannot be easily changed to match locale-specific expectations. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | color-internationalization , culture-specific-graphic , hard-coded-graphic |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A piece of software being localized for the Swedish market contain images of products available only in the U.S. market.
|
Note(s) | - This issue and its children apply only to cases where cultural aspects of graphics are not accessible to the localization process and so cannot be adapted.
|
Graphics and tables
Hard-coded graphic
ID | hard-coded-graphic |
Definition | Computer code contains “hard-coded” graphics that cannot be accessed or changed during the localization process. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | graphical-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A website uses inline base64-encoded representations of some graphics to speed up load times for the page, but these graphics are thus not accessible for localization.
|
Note(s) | |
Hard-coded keyboard command
ID | hard-coded-keyboard-command |
Definition | Key-board shortcuts or other commands are hard-coded into the system and do not function when alternative keyboards are selected |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A vital keyboard in the English version command involves pressing the A key, but when the program is run using a Russian keyboard layout, it is unusable because the program is waiting U#0041 (A) for instead of U#0391 (А).
|
Note(s) | |
ID | headers-footers |
Definition | Headers or footers are formatted incorrectly |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Headers should appear on every page but have been omitted on odd-numbered pages.
|
Note(s) | |
Hyphenation
ID | hyphenation |
Definition | Text in a layed-out format is hyphenated incorrectly |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A word processor has been set to use German hyphenation for a Hungarian text. As a result the word mennyi is hyphenated as men-nyi instead of the correct meny-nyi.
|
Note(s) | |
Hyphenator
ID | hyphenator |
Definition | A hyphenation engine does not support a needed language |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | language-specific-tool-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A desk-top publishing (DTP) tool has a hyphenation engine that does not support Hungarian.
|
Note(s) | |
Images vs. text
ID | images-vs-text |
Definition | Phrasing/wording is inconsistent between text shown in images and running text. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | inconsistency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A screen shot shows a button with the text “Open other…” but the text referring to the screen shot tells the user to click on the “Open alternative…” button.
|
Note(s) | |
Improper exact TM match
ID | improper-exact-tm-match |
Definition | An translation is provided as an exact match from a translation memory (TM) system, but is actually incorrect. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A TM system returns “Press the Start button” as an exact (100%) match, when the proper translation should be “Press the Begin button”.
|
Note(s) | - This issue type applies only in cases where TM technology is used.
|
Incomplete List
ID | incomplete-list |
Definition | A list is missing necessary items |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | completeness |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A list of items included in a retail package omits a crucial component.
|
Note(s) | |
Incomplete procedure
ID | incomplete-procedure |
Definition | A procedure is missing necessary steps. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | completeness |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A document describing a procedure to restart a diesel generator omits a crucial step that must be completed prior to performing additional steps.
|
Note(s) | - In cases where content is missing from the target text that is present in the source text,
omission should be used instead
|
Inconsistency
Inconsistent abbreviations
ID | inconsistent-abbreviations |
Definition | The form of abbreviations is inconsistent in the text. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | inconsistency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text uses both “app.” and “approx.” for approximately.
|
Note(s) | |
Inconsistent link/cross-reference
ID | inconsistent-link |
Definition | Links are inconsistent in the text |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | inconsistency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An HTML file contains numerous links to other HTML files; some have been updated to reflect the appropriate language version while some point to the source language version.
|
Note(s) | |
Inconsistent markup
ID | inconsistent-markup |
Definition | Markup elements are inconsistent between the source and target |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | markup |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A target text has a set of tags for bold face in the same location where the source has tags for italics.
|
Note(s) | |
Inconsistent style
ID | inconsistent-style |
Definition | Style is inconsistent within a text |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | style |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - One part of a text is written in a light and “terse” style while other sections are written in a more wordy style.
|
Note(s) | - Inconsistent style often emerges when multiple translators have worked on a single text. Because Inconsistent style applies to larger portions of texts, it would generally be assessed with a holistic metric rather than an analytic one.
|
Inconsistent use of terminology
ID | term-inconsistency |
Definition | Terminology is used in an inconsistent manner within the text. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | terminology |
Children | multiple-translations-of-term , multiple-terms-for-concept |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The text refers to a component as the “brake release lever”, “brake disengagement lever”, “manual brake release”, and “manual disengagement release”.
|
Note(s) | - This issue and its children are used only to address inconsistent use of terminology. In cases where terminology is incorrect for the domain or termbase
termbase or domain-terminology should be used instead. If further detail is needed about whether the source or target text is responsible for the inconsistent use terminology, use one of the daughter issues.
|
Inconsistent with domain
ID | domain-terminology |
Definition | A term is used contrary to general domain expectations |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | terminology |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A financial text is translated using “deduct” instead of “debit”. Although conceptually these could be synonyms in general language, “deduct” violated domain conventions.
|
Note(s) | - This issue is used for cases where no term-base is specified yet common domain conventions about terminology use are violated. If a termbase was specified and that term in question violates it,
termbase should be used instead, if it is included in the metric (otherwise terminology would be used).
|
Inconsistent with external reference
ID | external-inconsistency |
Definition | The text is inconsistent with a specified external reference |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | inconsistency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Translation specifications state that quotes in a text must match the 1957 edition of a book, but the translator used the 1943 edition, which was substantially different.
|
Note(s) | - For inconsistent terminology, options in the Terminology branch should be used instead.
|
Inconsistent with termbase
ID | termbase |
Definition | A term is used inconsistently with a specified termbase |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | terminology |
Children | terminology-company , terminology-third-party |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A termbase specifies that the term USB memory stick shold be used, but the text uses USB flash drive.
|
Note(s) | - For obvious reasons, this issue type applies only in cases where a term is specified in a termbase that was specified for use. If general domain conventions for terminology are violated instead, then
domain-terminology should be used instead, if it is included in a metric.
|
ID | index-toc-format |
Definition | An index/TOC is formatted incorrectly |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | index-toc |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A Table of Content should be formatted with variable (hierarchical) indenting and tab leader characters, but is instead displayed as a “run-in” list.
|
Note(s) | |
Index/TOC
ID | input-validation |
Definition | Validation of input does not function properly because it assumes certain parameters that do not apply in all locales |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A form validates names against a regular expression,
[A-Za-z']+ , but fails when a Japanese user enters a name that does includes characters other than standard Roman characters
|
Note(s) | |
Internationalization
ID | internationalization |
Definition | There is a problem related to the internationalization of content. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | concatenation , confusable-security , embedded-string , functional , graphical-internationalization , language-dependent-logic , language-specific-tool-support , localization-support , paper-envelope-size , resource-externalization , sequence , text-expandability , ui-internationalization |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A document assumes that all addresses use postal codes conforming to the U.S. “zip+four” convention and includes a verification step for postal codes that does not allow for non-U.S. codes.
- A computer program is localized but some content remains untranslated because it was embedded in the program code and not made accessible to the translator.
|
Note(s) | - While
internationaliztion errors are generally detected in the target content, they refer to problems in the source that cause problems with translated/localized content. Even in cases where internationalization is not being specifically checked, if problems related to internationalization are encountered, they should generally be reported to the content creators. - As of August 2014, the intention is to expand this branch in the future with more specific issue types.
|
Kerning
ID | kerning |
Definition | Kerning (inter-character spacing) is wrong. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | local-formatting |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The letters T and A in the word TAMPA are spaced too close together and collide.
|
Note(s) | |
Keyboard support
ID | keyboard-support |
Definition | Software does not provide support for appropriate local-language keyboards |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | writing-system-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A computer program provides support only for American English keyboards and so does not work properly in Icelandic since users cannot enter text with Icelandic-specific characters.
|
Note(s) | |
Language-dependent logic
ID | language-dependent-logic |
Definition | Content includes language- or locale-dependent logical assumptions that prevent it from being appropriately localized |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A technical text uses a “deductive” reasoning style that cannot be easily adapted to areas expecting an “inductive” reasoning style.
|
Note(s) | - This issue type is common when going between European and Asian markets. In some cases texts that are perfectly clear in one market may be difficult to follow in another due to culture-specific differences in logic.
|
ID | language-specific-tool-support |
Definition | Needed tools that specifically support required languages are missing or do not function as expected |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | grammar-checker , hyphenator , spell-checker |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A word processor is released for Kazakhstan but does not contain tools needed to fully support the Kazakh language.
|
Note(s) | |
Leading
ID | leading |
Definition | Leading (spacing between lines of text) is off |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | local-formatting |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A translated Japanese text has set lines too close together, making the text difficult to read.
|
Note(s) | |
Legal requirements
ID | legal-requirements |
Definition | A text does not meet legal requirements as set forth in the specifications. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | verity |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Specifications stated that FCC regulatory notices be replaced by CE notices rather than translated, but they were translated instead, rendering the text legally problematic for use in Europe.
|
Note(s) | - Generally used in cases where the translation does not meet requirements. Cases in which the source text does not meet legal requirements are generally critical errors that will require rewriting the source text.
|
Length
ID | length |
Definition | There is a significant discrepancy between the source and the target text lengths. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | design |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - An English sentence is 253 characters long but its German translation is 51 characters long.
|
Note(s) | |
Link/cross-reference
ID | broken-link |
Definition | A link or cross reference points to an incorrect or nonexistent location |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | document-internal-link , document-external-link |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An HTML document has an href that points to a file that does not exist.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | local-formatting |
Definition | Issues related to local formatting (rather than to overall layout concerns) |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | design |
Children | font , kerning , leading , paragraph-indentation , text-alignment |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | A portion of the text displays a (non-systematic) formatting problem (e.g., a single heading is formatted incorrectly, even though other headings appear properly). |
Note(s) | |
Locale convention
ID | locale-convention |
Definition | The text does not adhere to locale-specific mechanical conventions and violates requirements for the presentation of content in the target locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent |
|
Children | address-format , calendar-type , currency-format , date-format , locale-specific-punctuation , measurement-format , name-format , national-language-standard , number-format , shortcut-key , telephone-format , time-format |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An incorrect format for currency is used for a German text, with a period (.) instead of a comma (,) as a thousands separator.
- A text translated into Japanese uses Western quote marks to indicate titles rather than the appropriate Japanese quote marks (「 and 」). (Note: this example would be categorized as
quote-mark-type if the metric includes it.)
|
Note(s) | - This issue type is distinguished from
locale-specific-content in that this category refers only to whether the text is given the proper mechanical form for the locale, not whether the content applies to the locale or not. If text conforms to conventions for the locale, but does not apply to the target locale, locale-specific-content should be used instead.
|
Locale-specific content
ID | locale-specific-content |
Definition | Content specific to the source locale does not apply to the intended target locale, audience, or purpose. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | verity |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - An advertising text translated for Sweden refers to special offers available only in Germany and therefore is misleading.
- A manual for a printer sold in Spain describes features that apply only to versions of the printer sold in Japan and thus may confuse purchasers.
|
Note(s) | - This issue type is distinguished from
locale-convention in that this category applies to cases where text corresponds to the conventions of the target locale, but does not apply to the intended audience in the target locale. For example, if the Swedish advertising text mentioned above is properly translated and follows all mechanical locale conventions (e.g., using Swedish kronor instead of euros) but the offer does not apply to Sweden, cocale-specific-content should be chosen. If, however, the text applies to the locale, but does not follow locale conventions (e.g., numbers are formatted incorrectly for the locale), locale-convention should be used instead.
|
Locale-specific punctuation
ID | locale-specific-punctuation |
Definition | The text systematically uses punctuation not appropriate for the specified locale |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | quote-mark-type |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A text translated from English to Japanese maintains European-style punctuation—such as full-stops (.)—instead of using the appropriate Japanese punctuation, such as the Japanese full stop (。).
|
Note(s) | |
Localization support
ID | localization-support |
Definition | Aspects of how a software product presents locale-sensitive data are not properly internationalized |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | address-internationalization , calendar-internationalization , currency-internationalization , date-internationalization , measurement-internationalization , name-internationalization , number-internationalization , shortcut-key-internationalization , telephone-internationalization , time-internationalization |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - An online submission form to register for appointments with a product demonstrator does not allow data to be submitted for many countries because it validates data against a US-centric model.
|
Note(s) | - See the subtypes for specific examples. Note that this issue type and its children apply to internationaliztion problems in the source, not to specific instances in a target language, although they may be discovered as problems classified under
locale-convention in specific target languages. Although most of the examples of child nodes use specific instances where problems appear, they all refer to engineering problems of the source content.
|
Margins
ID | margins |
Definition | Text margins are incorrect. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Specifications called for 4 cm inside margins, but 2.5 cm margins were used instead.
|
Note(s) | |
Markup
ID | measurement-format |
Definition | A text uses a measurement format inappropriate for its locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text in France uses feet and inches and Fahrenheit temperatures.
|
Note(s) | |
Measurement internationalization
ID | measurement-internationalization |
Definition | A product does not provide support for needed measurement formats |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - An engineering software system developed in France supports only the metric system and when localized for use in the United States does not support U.S. measurement formats, rending it unusable when users print bill of parts sheets to order components from U.S. suppliers.
|
Note(s) | |
Misplaced markup
ID | misplaced-markup |
Definition | Markup is present but misplaced. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | markup |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A segment has three sets of paired formatting tags at the end, after the final full stop (.).
|
Note(s) | |
Missing fall-back text
ID | missing-fall-back-text |
Definition | A program includes a “fall-back” language for content that has not been localized, but the needed fall-back text is missing. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A French-language website has not been fully localized. When the user clicks a link to one of these pages he or she should be taken to the English-language source page, but instead is taken to a blank page with no content.
|
Note(s) | - It is common practice to allow software or websites to fall back on another language if some content is missing. For example, a partially-localized German website might display some content in English for pages that have not yet been localized.
|
Missing graphic/table
ID | graphics-tables-missing |
Definition | A graphic or table is missing. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | graphics-tables |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An HTML file is missing an <img> tag, so no graphic is shown.
|
Note(s) | |
Missing markup
ID | missing-markup |
Definition | Markup in the source is missing in the target. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | markup |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A source segment has a set of italic tags, but the target text does not have any tags.
|
Note(s) | |
Missing text
ID | missing-text |
Definition | Existing text is missing in the final laid-out version |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A translation is complete, but during DTP a text box was inadvertently moved off the page and so the translated text does not appear in a rendered PDF version.
|
Note(s) | - This issue does not refer to omitted text (i.e., text that was present in the source but not present in the translation). Instead it refers only to cases where text is present in some form but does not appear in the laid-out version. It also does not refer to text that has been truncated due to text expansion.
|
Missing/incorrect TOC item
ID | missing-incorrect-toc-item |
Definition | Items in an index/TOC are incorrect or missing |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | index-toc |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A chapter heading is not listed in a Table of Contents.
|
Note(s) | |
Mistranslation of technical relationship
ID | technical-relationship |
Definition | Content decribing the relationship(s) within a technical description is translated inaccurately with respect to technical knowledge (even if the translation otherwise appears plausible). |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A physics text describes the interaction of subatomic particles in a medical scanning device. The translation seems plausible, but incorrectly conveys the relationship of two particles and is therefore incorrect.
- A source text describes how a piano action (the mechanism connecting a piano key to the hammer that strikes a string) is translated in a way that incorrectly conveys the relationship between two components.
|
Note(s) | - This issue is not used for incorrect use of individual terms, which would be classified in
terminology or one of its children. Rather, it is used for cases where a translation might appear to be correct but where it ends up misconveying information about a technical subject. - Instances of this issue may point to confusing source materials or to lack of translator experience in a specialized domain.
|
Mistranslation
ID | mistranslation |
Definition | The target content does not accurately represent the source content. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | accuracy |
Children | ambiguous-translation , date-time , entity , false-friend , technical-relationship , number , overly-literal , no-translate , unit-conversion |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A source text states that a medicine should not be administered in doses greater than 200 mg, but the translation states that it should be administered in doses greater than 200 mg (i.e., negation has been omitted).
|
Note(s) | |
Multiple terms for concept in source
ID | multiple-terms-for-concept |
Definition | A single concept in the source text is expressed with multiple terms for the same concept. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | term-inconsistency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A source text inconsistently uses “dog”, “buzzing bridge”, and “buzzer” for the component of a musical instrument.
|
Note(s) | - Do not use this issue for cases where a single source term is translated in multiple ways in the target language content.
|
Multiple translations of same term
ID | multiple-translations-of-term |
Definition | A single source term is translated in multiple inconsistent ways. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | term-inconsistency |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A German source text uses one term for a component of a vehicle, but the target text uses “brake release lever”, “brake disengagement lever”, “manual brake release”, and “manual disengagement release” for this term in English.
|
Note(s) | - Applies to target text only since it refers to cases where one term has multiple translations. As with
term-inconsistency , termbase or one of its children should be used instead if a termbase contains a specified term for a concept and the text does not use that particular term.
|
ID | name-format |
Definition | A text uses a name format inappropriate for its locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text translated from Hungarian to English presents names with the family name first when the name order should be instead inverted to have family name last.
- A web form translated for Indonesia requires users to provide a “last name” even though many Indonesians have only a single name.
- A translated text refers to “Pedro Diego Estavez” as “Mr. Estavez” rather than “Mr. Diego”.
|
Note(s) | |
Name internationalization
ID | name-internationalization |
Definition | Forms, databases, or other functional software components do not provide support for needed personal name formats. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - An online registration form asks for “last name” and “first name”, resulting in confusion for users where family names are listed first (e.g., China, Japan, and Hungary) or where users have multiple family names (e.g., Spain, Portugal, Brazil) or only one name (e.g., Indonesia).
|
Note(s) | - Corresponds to
name-format in locale-convention . This is used to mark engineering problems in the source content, not specific problems in the target.
|
National language standard
ID | national-language-standard |
Definition | A text violates national language standards. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A French advertising text uses anglicisms that are forbidden for print texts by the Academie française specifications.
|
Note(s) | |
Non-dynamic UI
ID | non-dynamic-ui |
Definition | UI components are fixed in position and cannot move to adapt to different locales |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | ui-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A UI has hard-coded positions in a form and when an address box is expanded to three lines to support addresses in certain locales it then overlaps other UI elements, making them unreadable.
|
Note(s) | - Many UI frameworks automatically support dynamic adjustment of the position of UI elements. Home-built UIs are particularly prone to this problem.
|
Non-reversible UI
ID | non-reversible-ui |
Definition | A UI cannot be reversed to support bi-directional languages |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | ui-internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A web-form is left-aligned with multiple items per line, but when translated to Arabic the items appear in the wrong order because the UI cannot automatically adjust their layout.
|
Note(s) | - Many UI frameworks automatically support UI adjustment for bi-directional layouts. Home-built UIs are particularly prone to this problem.
|
Nonallowed characters
ID | nonallowed-characters |
Definition | The text includes characters that are not allowed. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text may not include colons or forward- or back-slashes, which might cause confusion with path names on some computer systems, but it contains these characters.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | number-format |
Definition | A text uses a number format inappropriate for its locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A German text has “123,456” instead of the locale-appropriate “123.456”.
- A text translated for India has “100,000” rather than “1,00,000”.
|
Note(s) | |
Number internationalization
ID | number-internationalization |
Definition | Numbers are displayed in the wrong format (e.g, with wrong delimiters) |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - An online system displays all numbers with commas to delimit thousands and a full stop (.) to indicate the decimal position. This format is confusing in many locales that use other delimiters or delimit texts using hundreds separators instead of thousands separators.
|
Note(s) | - Corresponds to
number-format in locale-convention . This is used to mark engineering problems in the source content, not specific problems in the target.
|
Number
ID | number |
Definition | Numbers are inconsistent between source and target. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - The source text specifies that a part is 124 mm long but the target text specifies that it is 135 mm long.
|
Note(s) | |
Offensive
ID | offensive |
Definition | Content is offensive according to the specifications |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text contains words generally considered to be profanities outside of a context where they would be allowed
- Images in a document depict nudity for a culture where nudity is considered offensive
- An American text uses the “OK” symbol (👌) to indicate approval, but this symbol is considered offensive in Brazil.
|
Note(s) | - if
offensive is to by used, clear guidelines should be given since content offensive in one context may be acceptable in another. - In many cases offensive content may be detected in a (semi)automatic fashion through the use of lists of unacceptable phrases, often in conjunction with terminology checkers. However, automatic checkers will not be able to identify all potentially offensive content, especially as content considered unobjectionable in one context or culture may be considered highly offensive in another.
|
Omission
ID | omission |
Definition | Content is missing from the translation that is present in the source. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | accuracy |
Children | omitted-variable |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A paragraph present in the source is missing in the translation
|
Note(s) | |
Omitted variable
ID | omitted-variable |
Definition | A variable placeholder is omitted from a translated text |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | omission |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A translated text should read “Number of lives remaining: $lifeNumber” but is rendered as “Number of lives remaining:”, with the variable
$lifeNumber omitted
|
Note(s) | |
Other
ID | other |
Definition | Used for any issues not adequately covered by the MQM core or extensions. This category should be used only if it is impossible to assign an issue to an existing category with sufficient granularity. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A quality process checks for errors generated from speech-to-text generated during conference interpretation. Because this error type is highly specific to the specific situation, it is not included in any predefined issue type elsewhere.
|
Note(s) | - This category should be used only for any issue type that cannot be mapped to one of the issue types listed above. If an issue type can be considered a more granular example of an existing type, it should be categorized as that type, possibly with a custom extension if the additional granularity is needed.
|
Over-translation
ID | over-translation |
Definition | The target text is more specific than the source text |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - The source text refers to a “boy” but is translated with a word that applies only to young boys rather than the more general term
|
Note(s) | - In some cases differences in concept structure between languages may render an apparent over-translation necessary. In such cases this issue should not be considered an error, although the issue may be noted for further consideration.
|
Overall design (layout)
Overly literal
ID | overly-literal |
Definition | The translation is overly literal. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A Hungarian text contains the phrase Tele van a hocipőd?, which has been translated as “Are your snow boots full?” rather than with the idiomatic meaning of “Feeling overwhelmed?”.
|
Note(s) | |
Page breaks
ID | page-breaks |
Definition | Page breaks appear in inappropriate locations. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - There is a page break between a figure and its caption.
|
Note(s) | |
Page references
ID | page-references |
Definition | An index/TOC refers to incorrect page numbers |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | index-toc |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A table of contents refers to page numbers from the source document that do not apply to the translated text.
|
Note(s) | |
Paper/envelope size
ID | paper-envelope-size |
Definition | Systems do not support needed paper or envelope sizes |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A printer driver supports only international A paper sizes, and therefore crops data when printing to US Letter paper.
|
Note(s) | |
Paragraph indentation
ID | paragraph-indentation |
Definition | A paragraph is indented improperly. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | local-formatting |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The first line of body paragraphs should be indented 4 mm, but some paragraphs were indented 25 mm instead.
|
Note(s) | |
Part of speech
ID | part-of-speech |
Definition | A word is the wrong part of speech |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | word-form |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “Read these instructions careful” instead of “Read these instructions carefully.”
|
Note(s) | |
Pattern problem
ID | pattern-problem |
Definition | The text contains a pattern (e.g., text that matches a regular expression) that is not allowed. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The regular expression
["'”’][,\.;] (i.e., a quote mark followed by a comma, full stop, or semicolon) is defined as not allowed for a project but a text contains the string ”, (closing quote followed by a comma).
|
Note(s) | |
Position of graphic/table
ID | graphics-tables-position |
Definition | A graphic or table is positioned incorrectly. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | graphics-tables |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text refers to Figure 1, but Figure 1 appears six pages after the point where it was referred to.
|
Note(s) | |
Postal code
ID | postal-code |
Definition | Content uses the wrong form for postal codes. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | address-format |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A translated online form validates all postal codes as consisting of exactly five numbers but the target locale uses a combination of six letters and numbers.
|
Note(s) | |
Punctuation
ID | punctuation |
Definition | Punctuation is used incorrectly (for the locale or style) |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | typography |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An English text uses a semicolon where a comma should be used.
|
Note(s) | - In most cases it is not necessary to distinguish this issue type from
typography .
|
Questionable markup
ID | questionable-markup |
Definition | Markup is present that appears malformed or inappropriate for its context. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | markup |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text has opening tags but no closing tags for formatting.
|
Note(s) | |
Quote mark type
ID | quote-mark-type |
Definition | A text uses quote marks inappropriate for its locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-specific-punctuation |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A French text should use guillemets («») but instead systematically uses German-style quotes („”)
|
Note(s) | - Use this issue only if the problem is systematic. Otherwise use Typography or Punctuation, if available.
|
Register
ID | register |
Definition | The text uses a level of formality higher or lower than required by the specifications or general language conventions. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | variants-slang |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A formal letter uses contractions, colloquialisms, and expressions characteristic of spoken rather than written language, and those comes across as less serious than intended.
|
Note(s) | - Register involves a number of factors, including appropriateness of the discourse for the specific subject field, the level of formality, and the mode of discourse (e.g., written text versus transcribed speech).
- The notion of register used in this document is derived from Systemic Functional Linguistics.
- For uses of the improper grammatical register that do not otherwise impact style, such as German du vs. Sie, use
grammatical-register instead.
|
Resource externalization
ID | resource-externalization |
Definition | Translatable resources have not properly been externalized from functional code. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A legal notice in German uses the informal du instead of the formal Sie.
|
Note(s) | - Standard practice in writing international code is to put all translatable resource into external resources (such as files containing UI strings). Failure to do so is a major cause of problems or failure in software localization tasks.
|
Sequence
ID | sequence |
Definition | Sequences in graphics or text appear in a culture-specific order that does not make sense in other locales. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A graphic presents an (implicit) left-to-right ordering of events, but users in the Middle East may follow the steps in reverse order because they expect right-to-left ordering.
|
Note(s) | |
Shortcut key internationalization
ID | shortcut-key-internationalization |
Definition | Software shortcut keys are set to combinations that do not make sense in all locales and cannot be changed |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - CTRL-S is used for saving files and cannot be changed, but some locales customarily use other keyboard shortcuts to save files.
|
Note(s) | - Corresponds to
shortcut-key in locale-convention . This is used to mark engineering problems in the source content, not specific problems in the target.
|
Shortcut key
ID | shortcut-key |
Definition | A translated software product uses shortcuts that do not conform to locale expectations or that make no sense for the locale |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A software product uses CTRL-S to save a file in Hungarian, rather than the appropriate CTRL-M (for mentenni).
|
Note(s) | |
Should not have been translated
ID | no-translate |
Definition | Text was translated that should have been left untranslated |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A Japanese translation refers to “Apple Computers” as アップルコンピュータ when the English expression should have been left untranslated.
|
Note(s) | |
Sorting
ID | sorting |
Definition | A list is not in the appropriately collated sequence. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A listing of items should be in alphabetical order but appears in a random order instead.
|
Note(s) | |
Spell checker
ID | spell-checker |
Definition | A spell checker does not support a needed language |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | language-specific-tool-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - The spell-checking engine used in a presentation tool localized for Korean does not include rules for the Korean language and cannot be used to spell-check Korean text.
|
Note(s) | |
Spelling
ID | spelling |
Definition | Issues related to spelling of words |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | capitalization , diacritics |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The German word Zustellung is spelled Zustetlugn.
|
Note(s) | |
String matching
ID | string-matching |
Definition | String-matching routines do not properly consider language-specific rules |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A German matching algorithm should recognize that the names Roemer and Römer are the same name (oe and ö are alternative spelling for the same sound) but does not, thus returning only some of the appropriate matches to a query.
|
Note(s) | - This issue may also extend to Unicode characters using different normalization forms if a matching algorthim does not consider canonical equivalence. This issue is closely related to
text-indexing
|
Style
ID | style |
Definition | The text has stylistic problems. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | awkward , company-style , inconsistent-style , register , third-party-style , unidiomatic |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The translation of a light-hearted and humorous advertising campaign is in a serious and “heavy” style even though specifications said it should match the style of the source text.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | telephone-format |
Definition | Content uses the wrong form for telephone numbers |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A German text presents a telephone number in the format (xxx) xxx - xxxx instead of the expected 0xx followed by a group of digits separated into groups by spaces.
|
Note(s) | |
Telephone internationalization
ID | telephone-internationalization |
Definition | The format of telephone numbers is set in forms, databases, or other functional aspects of software and therefore cannot support telephone numbers that do not match this format. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A contact database does not store country codes and fixes all telephone numbers at 10 digits, rejecting any shorter telephone numbers. As a result, it cannot be used outside of a handful of countries that have phone numbers matching these requirements.
|
Note(s) | |
Tense/mood/aspect
ID | tense-mood-aspect |
Definition | A verbal form displays the wrong tense, mood, or aspect |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | word-form |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | An English text reads “After the button is pushing” (present progressive) instead of “After the button has been pushed” (past passive) |
Note(s) | |
Terminology
ID | terminology |
Definition | A term (domain-specific word) is translated with a term other than the one expected for the domain or otherwise specified. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | term-inconsistency , termbase , terminology-domain |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A French text translates English e-mail as e-mail but terminology guidelines mandated that courriel be used.
- The English musicological term dog is translated (literally) into German as Hund instead of as Schnarre, as specified in a terminology database.
|
Note(s) | - All issues specifically related to use of domain- or organization-specific terminology are included in this issue and its children.
Do not use this issue if a text is simply mistranslated, i.e., if the translation would be a valid translation of the source but simply does not use the particular mandated terminology. For example, if a text translates [river] bank into Spanish as banco (a financial institution) instead of orilla (a river bank), this would be a mistranslation because banco would never be a valid term for the concept of a river bank. However, if a termbase specified that orilla should be used and the translation uses ribera instead, this would be a Terminology error because ribera is a valid term for the concept, but not the specified one.
|
Text alignment
ID | text-alignment |
Definition | A portion of a text is aligned inappropriately. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | local-formatting |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A heading should be left-aligned but was centered instead.
|
Note(s) | |
Text corruption
ID | text-corruption |
Definition | Text entered into a system is corrupted |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - When users enter text with accented vowels using UTF-8 encoding, these are systematically converted to other characters due to an internal text-processing routine that assumes ISO Latin-1 encoding.
|
Note(s) | - Problems with text corruption often emerge when different systems interact with each other without considering the encoding emitted or expected by other systems.
|
Text expandability
ID | text-expandability |
Definition | Insufficient room is left to allow for text expansion |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - Translation specifications state that all localized versions of a service manual must preserve the same pagination as the English source, but no extra room has been left for languages that text more physical space than the source text, such as German (which may be 30% longer than the English source).
|
Note(s) | - This issue corresponds to
truncation-text-expansion in the Design dimension. This issue is used to identify instances in the source where insufficient room has been left in a document or other item containing text while truncation-text-expansion is used for specific cases where text has extended beyond the allowed bounds.
|
Text indexing
ID | text-indexing |
Definition | When text is indexed for retrieval and processing, the indexing does not account for language-specific requirements. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - The German name Römer should be indexed for retrieval as “Römer”, “Roemer”, and “Romer”, but the indexing engine uses only the first. As a result, users looking for this name in a database will not find it if they use one of the alternative forms.
|
Note(s) | |
Third-party style
ID | third-party-style |
Definition | The text violates a third-party style guide |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | style |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Specifications stated that English text was to be formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style, but the text delivered followed the American Psychological Association style guide.
|
Note(s) | |
Third-party termbase
ID | terminology-third-party |
Definition | The text violates terminology guidelines as specified in a termbase from a third-party. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | termbase |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Specifications for translation of a software application specify that UI terms be translated according to the public termbases provided by the developers of the platforms upon which it will be deployed, but certain terms are not translated consistently with these specifications.
|
Note(s) | - Should be used only when it is necessary to distinguish terminology issues related to third-party termbases from more general
termbase issues.
|
ID | time-format |
Definition | A text uses a time format inappropriate for its locale. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | locale-convention |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text written for the U.S. uses a 24-hour time notation rather than AM/PM time.
|
Note(s) | |
Time internationalization
ID | time-internationalization |
Definition | Forms, databases, display, or other aspects of software do not support needed time formats |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | localization-support |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A time picker requires users to use AM/PM time even in cases where 24-hour time is the norm.
|
Note(s) | - Corresponds to
time-format in locale-convention . This is used to mark engineering problems in the source content, not specific problems in the target.
|
Time zone support
ID | time-zone-support |
Definition | Software does not support multiple time zones or conversions between time zones |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A shared calendar system does not consider timezones and sends out all notifications based on the time on the server’s clock. As a result it does not send out reminders for meetings at the appropriate time.
|
Note(s) | |
Truncation/text expansion
ID | truncation-text-expansion |
Definition | The target text has insufficient room to display the translated text according to specifications. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | design |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - The German translation of an English string in a user interface runs off the edge of a dialogue box and cannot be read.
|
Note(s) | |
Typography
ID | typography |
Definition | Issues related to the mechanical presentation of text. This category should be used for any typographical errors other than spelling. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | fluency |
Children | punctuation , unpaired-marks , whitespace |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text uses punctuation incorrectly.
- A text has an extraneous hard return in the middle of a paragraph.
|
Note(s) | - Do not use for issues related to
spelling .
|
Unclear reference
ID | unclear-reference |
Definition | The text uses relative pronouns or other referential mechanisms that are unclear as to their reference. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | ambiguity |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “After completing this, move to the next step,” but there are a number of possible referents for this in the text.
|
Note(s) | |
Under-translation
ID | under-translation |
Definition | The target text is less specific than the source text |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | accuracy |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - The source text uses words that refer to a specific type of miltary officer but the target text refers to military officers in general
|
Note(s) | - In some cases differences in concept structure between languages may render an apparent under-translation necessary. In such cases this issue should not be considered an error, although the issue may be noted for further consideration.
|
Unidiomatic
ID | unidiomatic |
Definition | The content is grammatical, but not idiomatic |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | style |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The following text appears in an English translation of a German letter: “We thanked him with heart” where “with heart” is an understandable, but non-idiomatic rendering, better stated as “heartily”.
|
Note(s) | |
Unintelligible
ID | unintelligible |
Definition | The exact nature of the error cannot be determined. Indicates a major break down in fluency. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | fluency |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The following text appears in an English translation of a German automotive manual: “The brake from whe this કુતારો િસ S149235 part numbr,,.”
- Text appears in a translation that cannot be understood at all.
|
Note(s) | |
Unit conversion
ID | unit-conversion |
Definition | The target text has not converted numeric values as needed to adjust for different units (e.g., currencies, metric vs. U.S. measurement systems). |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | mistranslation |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A source text specifies that an item is 25 centimeters (~10 inches) long, but the source states that it is 25 inches (63.5 cm) long.
|
Note(s) | |
Unpaired quote marks or brackets
ID | unpaired-marks |
Definition | One of a pair of quotes or brackets—e.g., a (, ) [, ], {, or } character—is missing from text. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | typography |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A text reads “King Ludwig of Bavaria (1845–1896 was deposed on account of his supposed madness,” omitting the closing parenthesis around the dates.
|
Note(s) | |
Untranslated graphic
ID | untranslated-graphic |
Definition | Text in a graphic was left untranslated. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | untranslated |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - Part labels in a graphic were left untranslated even though running text was translated
|
Note(s) | |
Untranslated
ID | untranslated |
Definition | Content that should have been translated has been left untranslated. |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | accuracy |
Children | none |
Applies to | target |
Example(s) | - A sentence in a Japanese document translated into English is left in Japanese.
|
Note(s) | |
User interface internationalization
ID | ui-internationalization |
Definition | A user interface has not been properly internationalized and so displays problems in localized versions. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | internationalization |
Children | complexity , fixed-dialog-ui-size , non-dynamic-ui , non-reversible-ui |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A user interface was manually aligned and spaced around English-language UI strings and so, when localized, shows strange spacing in the UI.
|
Note(s) | |
Variants/slang
ID | variants-slang |
Definition | The text uses words such as slang that are inappropriate for the intended register. |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | register |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A refers to dollars as “clams” in a case when this slang term would be inappropriate.
|
Note(s) | |
Verity
ID | verity |
Definition | The text makes statements that contradict the world of the text |
MQM Core? | yes |
Automatable? | no |
Parent |
|
Children | completeness , culture-specific reference , end-user-suitability , legal-requirements , locale-specific-content |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - The text states that a feature is present on a certain model of automobile when in fact it is not available.
|
Note(s) | - Verity issues can apply to the source or target text and often emerge during translation when, for example, a factual statement is true in the source locale but not true in the target locale.
|
Whitespace
ID | whitespace |
Definition | Whitespace is used incorrectly |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | typography |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A document uses a string of space characters instead of tabs
- Extra spaces are added at the start of a string
|
Note(s) | |
Widows/orphans
ID | widows-orphans |
Definition | The text has widows or orphans (single or short lines of text that appear on a separate page from the rest of a paragraph). |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | overall-design |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - Specifications state that at least two lines of a paragraph must appear on a page (if the paragraph is more than one line), but a single line starts a page while two appear on the previous page.
|
Note(s) | |
ID | word-form |
Definition | There is a problem in the form of a word |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | grammar |
Children | agreement , part-of-speech , tense-mood-aspect |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - An English text has becomed instead of became.
|
Note(s) | |
Word order
ID | word-order |
Definition | The word order is incorrect |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | yes |
Parent | grammar |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A German text reads “Er hat gesehen den Mann” instead of “Er hat den Mann gesehen.”
|
Note(s) | |
Writing system support
ID | writing-system-support |
Definition | A needed writing system is not fully supported |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | functional |
Children | none |
Applies to | source |
Example(s) | - A system is localized for China, but required support for the writing systems of Chinese minority languages is not usable.
|
Note(s) | |
Wrong size
ID | wrong-font-size |
Definition | The font size is incorrect |
MQM Core? | no |
Automatable? | no |
Parent | font |
Children | none |
Applies to | source and target |
Example(s) | - A legal notice should be set in a 9 pt size, but was instead set in 7 pt.
|
Note(s) | |
2. Previous versions (non-normative)
Changes from version 0.5.1 Diffs
- Updated copyright and license information to be consistent with MQM defintion
- Added link to definition in admin table
- Removed request for comment notification
Changes from version 0.5.0 Diffs
- No substantive content changes
- Added administrative links to diffs and current versions
Changes from version 0.4.0
- Moved style-related issues to their own dimension (
style
).
- Moved
register
into style
and separated out the grammatical issues of register into grammatical-register
. The MQM Core contains grammatical-register
and register
has been removed from the Core. This is a major semantic change, but the core issue of register had focused on the grammatical aspects before.
- Added
Locale-specific punctuation
as an issue under Locale convention
and moved Quote mark type
under it in response to industry feedback.
- Corrected numerous technical errors in the table of issue types.
- Replaced graphics to display both issue names and IDs and to correct minor errors.
Changes from version 0.3.0
- Added
Offensive
in response to GALA survey data.
Changes from version 0.2.0
- Two new dimensions added:
Terminology
and Locale convention
. These dimensions take issues from other dimensions, as noted below.
- Within
Accuracy
:
Mistranslation
loses Terminology
as a daughter
- Within
Mistranslation
:
- Added
Mistranslation of technical relationship
(from DQF)
- Two new categories are added (
Overtranslation
and Undertranslation
) for compatibility with LQA
- Within Fluency:
Mechanical
and Content
division dropped. While theoretically nice, in practical terms it caused problems.
Style guide
and Stylistics
recombined (they had been split to deal with the Mechanical/Content division) back into Style
. Within Style
:
- Added
Awkward
- Deleted
Style guide
and replaced with Company style
and Third-party style
- Add
Inconsistent style
.
- Moved
Unidiomatic
from being a child of Content
to being a child of Style
- Added
Cohesion
and Coherence
- Under
Inconsistency
:
- Dropped
Discourse
(it is replaced by Coherence
)
- Moved
Terminological inconsistency
to the Terminology
dimension
- Added
Inconsistency with external reference
(request from TAUS)
- Eliminated
Monolingual terminology
(it is now handled by issues in the Terminology
dimension)
- Within
Internationalization
:
- Added 48 issues taken from LISA internationalization readiness project.
- Within
Verity
:
- Moved all
Locale convention
issues to the new dimension Locale convention
- Add
Culture-specific reference
(from DQF)
- Created new
Terminology
dimension. Notes:
- Dropped bilingual/monolingual terminology division. Nobody got it or used it anyway.
- Simplified all terminology related issues in one place
- Made new
Locale convention
dimension. Notes:
Locale convention
takes all of its daughter issues from its old location in Fluency
- Additional issues added from DQF and support for parallel issues in
Internationalization
.
- Changed hierarchical listing of issues to follow alphabetical order within each node. Previously there had been some remnants of a sequence-based priority inherited from ITS 2.0. These sequence-based factors are no longer applicable.
- Added new graphics for those dimensions with subtypes.
Changes from version 0.1.1
- Removed point about ordering as it was no longer relevant and was potentially misleading in the context of actual metrics.
- Split
Style
into Stylistics
and Style-guide
.
- Added information about whether category applies to source, target, or both
- Fixed numerous bad links and added back-end mechanism to ensure that all issue-type names and links are valid.
Changes from version 0.1.0
- Updated name
locale-violation
to Locale-convention
- Updated name
locale-applicability
to Locale-specific-content
- Added clarifications and examples to various issue types