789,000 Words of Translation and Evaluation Across 10+ Rare Languages in 25 Days

Client: A major technology company  |  Service: Translation & Linguistic Evaluation  |  Volume: 789,000 words  |  Turnaround: 25 days

A major technology company needed nearly 800,000 words translated and linguistically evaluated across some of the world’s most under-resourced languages. Marshallese. Hmong. Hawaiian. Languages where the global pool of qualified translators can be counted on two hands. MoniSa Enterprise delivered the full scope in 25 days at 99.5% linguistic accuracy.

The Challenge

This was not a standard translation project. The client required two distinct deliverables per language pair: translated content and independent linguistic evaluation of that translation. The evaluation component demanded a second set of linguists. qualified reviewers who could assess accuracy, fluency, and cultural appropriateness without having seen the original translation in progress.

The language list made staffing difficult by design. Marshallese has an estimated global population of 44,000 native speakers. Hawaiian is a revitalized language with limited commercial translation infrastructure. Hmong spans multiple dialects across Southeast Asia and the US diaspora. Other languages in the scope, Maori, Palauan, Tahitian, presented similar sourcing challenges.

789,000 words in 25 days meant an average throughput of 31,500+ words per day across all language pairs. At this volume, a single bottleneck in one language pair cascades into delays across the entire project.

Our Approach

We structured the operation as two parallel workstreams, translation and evaluation, with firewalls between the teams to preserve evaluation independence.

• Dual-team architecture: For each language, we assembled a translation team and a separate evaluation team. Evaluators never saw work-in-progress translations. They received completed batches and assessed them against defined rubrics. accuracy, fluency, terminology consistency, and cultural fit.
• Diaspora-based sourcing: For Marshallese, we sourced linguists from diaspora communities in Arkansas and Hawaii. For Hmong, we worked with US-based and Laos-based native speakers. For Hawaiian, we engaged linguists connected to University of Hawaii language programs. Each linguist was vetted through paid test tasks before project assignment.
• Daily throughput tracking: We tracked words delivered per day per language pair against target. Any pair falling below 85% of daily target triggered an escalation to the vendor manager within 4 hours. Two language pairs required mid-project linguist additions to maintain pace.
• Batch-synchronized delivery: Translation and evaluation outputs were synchronized into weekly delivery batches. The client received both the translated content and the evaluation reports together, enabling immediate quality assessment.

All work was conducted under MoniSa’s ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, and ISO 17100:2015 certified processes. Data handling followed the client’s security requirements, with all content processed through approved platforms only.

Results

The client accepted all deliverables on first submission. No rework cycles were required. The evaluation reports confirmed translation quality independently. the client did not need to allocate internal reviewers for any of the rare-language pairs.

Why MoniSa Was Selected

Why chosen: The client needed both translation AND independent evaluation — two separate teams per language, not one team doing both. Most vendors could staff one or the other for rare languages. MoniSa could staff both, including for languages like Marshallese and Palauan where the reviewer pool barely exists.

Why successful: Parallel translation and evaluation workstreams ran synchronized batch delivery — the client received both outputs together, enabling immediate quality comparison. This dual-track model is what the project required, and it is what most vendors cannot operationalize for rare languages.

Key Takeaways

• Translation and evaluation require separate teams with enforced independence. Using the same linguists for both translation and review introduces confirmation bias. Firewalled teams produce evaluation data that the client can actually trust.
• Rare-language sourcing at scale requires diaspora networks. For languages like Marshallese and Hawaiian, traditional vendor databases are empty. Community-level relationships, built over years, not weeks, are the only reliable sourcing channel.

Related guide: How to Choose a Translation Vendor for Rare Languages