Mirela
Everyone in the translation industry talks about “quality,” but how can you be sure you’re going to receive a quality translation? Or how can you be sure you’re giving your clients quality work? Translation quality standards and frameworks exist to bring clarity to that messy space.
In this guide, you’ll walk through the major translation-related standards and see what they’re all about.
Important ISO standards for translation and localization
We’ll first go through the main translation quality standards.
ISO 17100:2015 (Translation services)
This is the primary, translation-specific ISO standard for translation service providers (TSPs). ISO 17100:2015 specifies requirements for the core processes, resources and other aspects necessary for delivering quality translations, such as project management, pre-production, production, review, delivery, confidentiality, record.
One of its most important contributions is its definition of professional competencies. The standard outlines what qualifies someone to work as a translator, reviser, or project manager, typically requiring a combination of formal education in translation or linguistics, several years of experience, or verified professional equivalence.
ISO 17100 also emphasizes the importance of a structured workflow. Every translation must be followed by a revision carried out by a second qualified linguist, ensuring that no translation is delivered without an independent review. The standard also describes how client instructions should be documented, how terminology and reference materials should be handled, and how confidential information must be protected.
ISO 18587:2017 (Post-editing of machine translation output)
With the rapid expansion of machine translation (MT), ISO 18587 emerged as the first international standard dedicated specifically to human post-editing. It defines what is expected from post-editors, what distinguishes “light” from “full” post-editing, and how clients and language service providers should establish quality expectations.
The standard focuses on how human post-editors must handle the output, what skills they need to possess, and how the process should be managed so that clients receive consistent, predictable results. ISO 18587 is typically applied alongside ISO 17100 when an organization offers translation using MT workflows. While 17100 covers the general translation process, 18587 provides the additional rules that ensure post-editing is handled with the same rigor as traditional translation.
ISO 20771:2020 (Legal translation requirements)
ISO 20771 focuses entirely on legal translation, a discipline that requires exceptional precision, domain expertise, and confidentiality. Unlike some other standards, ISO 20771 can apply directly to individual legal translators as well as organizations, since legal translation often demands personal professional accountability. The standard describes the qualifications, ethical expectations, and working methods required for translators who handle contracts, court documents, legislation, patents, and other legally binding content.
What makes ISO 20771 distinctive is its recognition of the unique responsibilities that legal translators hold, particularly the requirement that they thoroughly understand legal systems, terminology, and conventions in both the source and target languages. It places strong emphasis on confidentiality, accuracy, traceability, secure information handling, and the proper use of reference materials. For organizations that work heavily with legal clients—law firms, corporate legal departments, or government institutions—this standard provides a way to demonstrate that their translators operate at the highest professional level.
ISO 11669:2024 (Translation projects, general guidance)
ISO 11669 is not a certifiable standard but rather a guidance document that helps translation buyers and providers develop clear project specifications. Its purpose is to ensure that both sides understand what the translation must achieve: defining the purpose of the content, the audience, the required level of quality, and any constraints or risks. The standard teaches organizations how to write good translation briefs and how to manage expectations from the outset.
Because ISO 11669 focuses on specification rather than execution, many organizations use it alongside ISO 17100. Where ISO 17100 ensures consistent processes inside the translation provider’s operations, ISO 11669 provides a shared language for discussing what the client needs. It is especially useful in industries where translation projects vary widely in purpose (as for example marketing, technical documentation, regulatory content, training materials) and where misunderstandings between clients and vendors can cause delays or quality disputes.
ISO 9001 (Quality management systems)
ISO 9001 is not specific to translation, but nonetheless, it’s one of the most frequently combined standards in the language industry. Many translation companies choose to obtain ISO 9001 certification to show that they follow an overall quality management system (QMS) that ensures consistency, continuous improvement, and customer satisfaction.
Because ISO 9001 focuses on organizational processes rather than translation-specific practices, it complements ISO 17100 by providing a broader quality framework that governs leadership, risk management, corrective actions, internal auditing, and documentation. For clients, this certification often signals maturity and reliability.
ISO 13611 (Community interpreting)
Although primarily about interpreting rather than translation, ISO 13611 is relevant when you provide both types of services. It offers guidance on how community interpreting should be performed in settings such as healthcare, social services, immigration, and local government. Like other interpreting standards, it aims to ensure impartiality, confidentiality, and accuracy, while recognizing that community interpreters often work in sensitive or high-stress environments.
The standard focuses on the ethical and practical responsibilities of interpreters, the importance of understanding cultural nuances, and the need for adequate preparation and role clarity. For organizations that offer multilingual support services, ISO 13611 helps formalize practices that protect both interpreters and service users.
Non-ISO standards and frameworks
While ISO translation quality standards dominate the global market, there are others equally important.
ASTM F2575 (Standard guide for quality assurance in translation)
ASTM F2575 has long been influential in North America. The ASTM guide focuses on the idea that translation quality begins with a clear, mutually agreed project description. It encourages clients and providers to define the purpose of the translation, the quality level required, the constraints, the terminology resources, and the acceptance criteria before work begins.
You could say that ASTM F2575 is more flexible than ISO 17100. It does not mandate that every translation undergo a mandatory revision or that translators meet certain educational requirements. Instead, it provides a framework that helps both parties decide what is appropriate for a particular project. Because of this, procurement teams often use ASTM F2575 when drafting translation contracts or statements of work, while ISO 17100 remains the operational standard inside the translation provider’s workflow.
MQM (Multidimensional Quality Metrics)
MQM is not a process standard but a measurement framework. It describes a systematic way to evaluate translation quality through error types and severity levels, and tells you how to judge the final product. It distinguishes between issues such as accuracy, terminology, grammar, fluency, style, and formatting, and allows evaluators to record errors in a structured way that supports scoring, reporting, and comparison.
Because MQM is modular, you can adapt it to your needs. Some use a “lite” version for general quality reviews, while others use a highly detailed version for machine translation benchmarking or vendor performance tracking. MQM has become especially important in workflows where translation quality must be quantified, for example when comparing multiple MT engines or when tracking improvements over time.
TAUS DQF (Dynamic Quality Framework)
TAUS’s Dynamic Quality Framework is another influential system for measuring and managing translation quality. It emphasizes the idea that translation quality should be “dynamic,” as in dependent on the content type and the purpose, rather than based on a single universal standard. Through its tools and APIs, DQF provides an ecosystem for evaluating translations, collecting error data, benchmarking performance, and managing post-editing productivity.
Many translation management systems integrate with DQF so that reviewers can record quality assessments directly within their CAT tools. Over time, the DQF approach has become highly relevant in machine translation workflows, where organizations need consistent metrics to track the performance of different engines or post-editors.
Who typically uses each standard
ISO 17100 is the standard and most widely used. It’s the one translation companies cite when they want to demonstrate that their work follows a recognized professional structure rather than ad-hoc habits. Although freelancers cannot certify to it, many adopt its principles because it signals credibility and consistency.
ISO 18587 tends to be adopted by organizations that lean heavily on machine translation. Companies that run MT-based workflows use it to bring stability and shared expectations to post-editing. In that space, the standard functions almost like a badge of maturity. ISO 20771 plays a similar role for legal translators and it reassures law firms and legal departments that their documents are handled by professionals who understand the stakes.
ISO 11669 and ASTM F2575 find their main audience on the client and project-management side of the industry. They appeal to people responsible for defining what a translation project must achieve because these standards focus on specification rather than execution. They help prevent the misunderstandings that often arise when expectations are not explicitly stated at the outset.
ISO 9001, MQM, and DQF each serve broader or more analytical purposes. ISO 9001 attracts larger or more process-driven language service providers who want to demonstrate company-wide quality management practices. MQM and DQF are used by organizations that need to measure translation quality.
Certification and audit status
Some of these standards come with a formal seal of approval, while others are more like well-respected guidelines. ISO 17100, ISO 18587, ISO 20771, and ISO 9001 all fall into the first category. If you want to prove you follow these standards, you can invite an accredited auditor to examine your processes, interview staff, and review documentation. If everything checks out, you receive a certificate you can show to clients. These certifications aren’t permanent; companies must be reviewed regularly to keep them.
Not all standards take this route. ISO 11669 and ASTM F2575 don’t offer certification because they’re only designed as guidance rather than strict rulebooks. They help people define translation requirements intelligently, but they don’t try to police how a provider works day to day. They still bring value because they shape conversations and expectations.
The same for MQM and DQF. These frameworks are about evaluation, not compliance. They don’t have certification bodies or audits because they’re tools for measuring quality, analyzing errors, and tracking performance. A company might say it “uses MQM” or that its workflows are “DQF-integrated,” but that means they rely on these systems internally.
Wrapping up
As you can see, quality isn’t governed by one single rulebook. You have so many translation quality standards to guide you and to vouch for your work. Each standard or framework covers a different angle: how translators should work, how MT should be handled, how clients should define their needs, and how quality should be measured in the real world. Once you know how these standards fit together, you can build a setup. You don’t have to adopt everything; you just have to adopt the right things for you.