A review loop for translated counseling material
Japanese Biblical Counseling Association
Japanese reviewers comment on machine-translated drafts phrase by phrase, and their corrections export straight back into the translation process.
The problem
JBCA translates English biblical counseling material into Japanese. Draft review was happening in documents and email threads, which made it hard to see which paragraph a comment referred to, and harder still to feed corrections back into the next draft.
What we did
We built a review tool where Japanese reviewers read the English and Japanese side by side, comment on a specific phrase or a whole paragraph, and resolve threads as they go. Reviewer feedback exports in a structured form so it can be fed straight back into the translation process.
Result
The tool is live on the JBCA staff site and open to everyone already on it, including the reviewers and proofreaders doing the translation work — no separate accounts or onboarding required.
What changed for the people using it
| Aspect | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where review happens | Documents and email threads | One tool, English and Japanese side by side | In one place |
| What a comment points at | Described in prose, often ambiguous | An exact phrase or paragraph | Unambiguous |
| Getting corrections back | Copied out by hand | Exported in a structured form | Automated |
| Who can take part | Whoever was on the email chain | Everyone already on the staff site | No new accounts |