Working with External Testers during a Consultant Check: Various Ways and their Advantages and Disadvantages

In order to assure a high quality of newly translated Biblical texts, testing comprehension and naturalness with external test persons is crucial. This is often part of a consultant check. The way various consultants and projects conduct these testing sessions varies greatly according to consultant, project and situation. Consultants-in-training often only see a limited spectrum of such ways. In order to show this wide variety as well as its advantages and disadvantages a survey among translation consultants was conducted. The findings may help consultants – whether they are new or already served for many years – find the most suitable way in a certain situation. The survey asked about the frequency, advantages and disadvantages of ways, such as “team only checks with testers”, “checks where a consultant asks questions directly”, “checks where a consultant asks orally through the team”, “checks where a consultant asks in writing through the team” and “checks without testing”. Besides that, participants in the survey were given the opportunity to explain additional ways.