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Linguistic Quality Assurance Errors & Arbitration

Arbitration is the process of disputing and resolving errors recorded under LQA. It is an opportunity for the translator to justify the overall thinking behind the translation provided, and an opportunity for the evaluator to gain better insight and a different perspective on the translation. The goal is to come to a resolution on the specific error, and develop a better overall understanding of what's required in the translations for the client.

Errors can be recorded and arbitrated in the CAT Tool, on any LQA-enabled workflow step.

Alternatively, you can view all errors, record additional errors on a translation, and arbitrate any errors recorded from the Linguistic Quality Assurance Errors & Arbitration Report.

Accessing the LQA Errors & Arbitration Report

In Smartling, click the Reports dropdown > Linguistic Quality Assurance Errors & Arbitration.
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The report displays one row per recorded error. The table resizes to fit your browser window. Each row includes the following detail:

  • Open (link that opens the error in a new tab)

  • Schema

  • Category - Type

  • Severity

  • Source String

  • Translation

  • Note

  • Arbitration Comment Count

  • Project & Job


View or modify errors

To view any translation error in detail, record an additional error on the translation, or arbitrate an error, click the error to open the same LQA window as in the CAT Tool.

  • Click New Error to record an additional error on the translation

  • Click the error and Add Comment to arbitrate the error


Filters

Use the available filters to narrow the report to a specific set of errors by project, language, error type, date range, and more.

  • Projects

  • Jobs

  • Languages

  • Schemas (published only)

  • Categories

  • Error Types

  • Severity
    Can be used when filtering by a single schema. Accounts with only one schema can use this filter automatically without needing to select a schema.

  • LQA Error Created date range

  • Arbitration comments (with or without)

  • Translated by
    Name of the Smartling user who translated the string that underwent LQA. If you are using LQA Suite, please note that this filter cannot reference the original translator in the production project, as translations are imported into the LQA project by a service user. This filter can only be used for LQA Projects if the translation was edited directly in the LQA project.

  • Workflow
    Only displays LQA-enabled workflow steps. By default, all LQA-enabled steps are selected.

  • Hide errors recorded on unedited SmartMatches
    When checked, any errors recorded on a translation created by SmartMatch, with no linguist edits, will be hidden from the report. (Note, if you use LQA Suite, this filter is not relevant for LQA Projects, as SmartMatch is never applied in LQA Projects. SmartMatching only occurs within production projects).


Sorting

Use the Sort by dropdown to control the order in which errors are displayed in the report. The default sort order is Category & Error Type Ascending. The following sort options are available:

  • Category & Error Type Ascending (default)

  • Category & Error Type Descending

  • Category Name Ascending

  • Category Name Descending

  • Error Type Name Ascending

  • Error Type Name Descending

  • Source String Ascending

  • Source String Descending

  • Translation Ascending

  • Translation Descending

  • Error Created Date Ascending

  • Error Created Date Descending

  • Error Modified Date Ascending

  • Error Modified Date Descending


Downloading the report

To download the report, apply the desired filters and click Export as CSV. The Export as CSV dialog opens and shows the number of errors to be exported.
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​Optionally, select the Include arbitration comments? checkbox, then click Export.


Standard export (checkbox cleared)

This is the default. A CSV file is downloaded to your local drive.


The following columns are included in the downloaded report:

  • Schema

  • Category

  • Error Type

  • Severity

  • Error Reported By

  • Source string

  • Translation

  • Translated By

  • Comment

  • Arbitration (number of arbitration comments)

  • Project

  • Hashcode

  • Locale

  • Job

  • Variant

Note: The Note column in the report appears as Comment in the CSV.

Export with arbitration comments (checkbox selected)

Select Include arbitration comments? to export the text of each arbitration comment, not just the count.


This export includes the same columns as the standard export, in the same order, with the following differences:

  • The Arbitration column is named Arbitration comment count.

  • Three columns are added after the arbitration comment count: Arbitration comment, Arbitration comment timestamp (UTC, in ISO 8601 format such as 2025-05-28T14:14:31Z), and Arbitration comment reporter.

  • The file contains one row per arbitration comment per error. An error with two comments takes two rows.

  • Rows follow the same sort order as the dashboard. For errors with multiple comments, rows are sorted by the comment's modified date.

  • Only the current version of each comment is exported. The timestamp is the date the comment was last modified, and the reporter is the user who last modified it.

  • Errors with no arbitration comments still appear as one row, with the count set to 0 and the three comment columns left empty.

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