Clients aren’t always clear on the role of translation management in the translation process, so we thought that a short article on the subject would be of interest. Its important to say at the outset, that translation is a bespoke service, with individual translation projects, and client needs both varying. A “one size fits all” approach to translation management is therefore not very helpful. The biggest single difference in the way we work with individual clients, is whether the job is single target language or multiple languages. With a single target language job, there are usually less document formatting issues, whilst with multiple languages, it is laikely that the project manager will have to format the multi-language version of the document. Project Managers also liaise between the client and the project team, dealing with queries about the text, and any amendments. Sometimes the client needs changes to the source text during the life of the project, and  its quite common that translators and proofreaders have questions about the text.

At better languages, we are very precious about the Translation Manager role, Translation Managers have to be linguists themselves, and although they are not actually required to translate or proofread, they have to have a depth of understanding of the job roles, and the necessary gravitas to be able to deal confidently and well with end clients. Inevitably things can sometimes go wrong with a project, for example, what happens if a translator is taken seriously ill during the life of the project, or translators are on holiday, or busy with other projects? The end client shouldn’t normally notice these types of issues, as its the normal work of a translation manager to resolve this type of problem.

We very much take the view that the client’s problem is our problem. Our Translation Managers therefore have a “can do” approach. For example we were phoned up by a company a few months ago who had a large single language project, with a looming deadline, who had been let down by another agency. Our imediate response was “yes of course we can help”. We were able to deliver the project on time, and the result was a very happy new client.

We work with a wide variety of file formats, and can provide desk top publishing in most major design formats, in a very wide range of languages. Our Translation Managers take the time and trouble to understand exact needs, and then work with the project team to deliver a quality translation service.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 8:34 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.