For a business executive, it's important to understand the process of translation and how it works from both the client's and the translation company's perspective. That's why we want to explain all of the steps involved in translating materials you may need for your organization's global growth from conception to final delivery, as well as the people who are involved in each stage of the process.
Additionally, we will cover the tools and resources that are necessary for a smooth language translation process, and will show what makes it as efficient as possible for you as a client. So, if you don't want translation to slow you down so that you can focus on doing big things, read on!
Translation is an important service that can help businesses communicate with customers from around the world. It's important to have a translation process in place so that the translation is carried out smoothly and with the desired results.
There are many people involved in the language translation process, and as such, it is crucial to use a process that meets your specific needs.
The standard process that we present here can be customized to your particular use case and scenario. However, standard or custom, it's critical to proceed according to professional process right from the start to save time and resources.
There are many people who assist you in the process of translating - from account managers to financial specialists. Each person has a specific role in this process, and it is their responsibility to deliver you their piece of the translation services cake in their part of the workflow.
This way, your translation will be done accurately and on-time, as each individual plays their part in such a translation process, and collectively, they deliver a complete job. In order to achieve that to your benefit, however, any actions need to be carried out in specific order and coordinated by carefully assigned people.
The translation account manager is the person you are usually in touch with right after your business development representative who signed you as a client.
Very often, the role of account manager is handled by project managers or the mentioned business development representatives (or sometimes both, especially in the first year of your working together - this is when you are considered as a new client).
They have a crucial role to play, as they collect all the important project information from you and send you a quote. They are there for you to make sure that your project goes smoothly. Besides handling complaints, it is also their job to keep you updated on everything related to your project so that you always know what's going on.
Ultimately, their main goal is for you feel comfortable working with them and their agency. After all, translation should be a pleasure for you and shouldn't be a frustrating experience, right?
A production manager is a key position in translation companies. They ensure that all required assets are in place. They are also in charge of ensuring that all people working on your project have the necessary tools, workflows and people at their disposal. A production manager also oversees the work of project managers, project coordinators and vendor managers (depending on the agency structure, there may be other people involved, like team leaders or senior roles) In many cases, issues relating to project teams work as a whole are resolved by the production manager.
A project manager's job is to coordinate and manage all aspects of the project. You will work closely with them from start to finish. A project manager at a translation company is responsible for widely understood planning, creating timelines and milestones while ensuring that everything goes as planned every day. Communication is key - it's essential that your PM are able to keep you up-to-date on progress so everyone understands what needs to be done in order for the project to succeed.
Good teamwork is essential in managing translation and localization projects. Being able to recognize potential issues early on allows your PM to adapt or resolve them before they become bigger problems down the line. Bad news early is good news for a project manager. With experience under their belt and a sound understanding of translation industry, PMs ensure the project progress as per your expectations as well as they keep an eye on project's budget and essential KPIs.
They have a key role in delivering your translations on time, on spec and on budget.
Translation of any content can be a complex process, that's why it's essential to work with the right provider that is able to secure the right experts for your translation. A translation vendor manager will make sure you're working with the best translators available, so your project is executed smoothly.
They have knowledge about the industry and will choose professional translators who are suitably skilled for your project. In addition, they are responsible for liaising with other specialists - such as proofreaders or SEO experts - to ensure that all aspects of the translation are taken care of properly. Most importantly, the vendor manager works closely with project management and other teams to get you exactly what you need in terms of quality and efficiency – no matter how big or small your translation needs may be. They are your team-builders.
Translation quality manager keeps an eye on the accuracy, consistency and general correctness of your translated content. They manage quality procedures, instructions and their proper use in your project as per your specifications. They measure the quality of the translation. They keep their eye on any shortcomings in grammar, punctuation, spelling, detect inconsistencies, subject matter errors, omissions, literal translations and all the possible flaws of the translation product your language services provider is about to deliver to you. They can even find errors in the source text and make corrections in the source material or original document if they are proficient in that native language.
A quality manager needs to be proactive and communicate with different stakeholders about any quality issues as they arise. It's them who give the final translation that "badge of quality" on your translated multilingual content so that it's ready to be delivered to you.
A localization engineer is responsible for technical preparation and conversions of files for translation. They typically work with other teams to make the assets translatable. After translation, the engineer ensures that translated files are implemented and compiled correctly in their original environment. They liaise with all the internal and external stakeholders, for example your developers or the project manager. Their role is similar to a role of a DTP specialist but on different assets. DTP teams work on publication files in InDesign, Publisher and similar packages, while engineers work with resource files and other software-related assets like .resx or .js files.
Translation company accounts and administration are responsible for the billing process, sending invoices to clients, tracking payments and working with clients on other aspects of their relationship with the agency like signing important documents and the like.
Translation can be a complex process, but it doesn't have to be. Translation agencies have the tools and software to help you with the language translation process from start to finish, from RFQ through asset uploads to invoicing.
Usually, the centre of this setup is an all-in-one translation management system with different parts facing different stakeholders in the process and customized to their needs. This makes the language translation process more efficient and streamlined for everyone involved. This way, translation agencies help you with the translation process so that your project runs smoothly and efficiently.
A translation management system is an essential tool for any professional language services provider. It helps to keep track of all the translations being done for you, manage files, and assign tasks to translators.
Additionally, it is used to manage your customer records, agreements and other important data.
There are usually three parts to a translation management system: the home portal for PMs and other agency staff, the client portal where clients track all the important aspects of their translations, and the vendor portal for the agency's suppliers.
Many TMSs also have a built-in translation features (CAT - Computer-Assisted Translation - tool functions, translation editors, including web editors, Translation Memory (TM), terminology and glossary management). This allows to scale, especially with high-volume and time-sensitive projects, and enables multiple people to work on a project at the same time using each other's work in real time. What's more important, this scalability has no impact on performance and quality but affects your cost in a very positive way.
TMS enables to make the whole process more continuous rather than waterfall-type like.
A free client portal is one of the great advantages a translation company can offer you. Using a client portal helps you manage your projects in one place with a 360-degree overview of what's really up.
It has all the tools you need - such as tracking, search, filtering and communication capabilities - to make working with your translation team easier and more efficient. Plus, by generating reports on various aspects of your projects, you can keep tabs on progress and finances easily.
In addition to this central management system, a client portal also makes it easy to communicate with your project manager, keep your translation spend in check and manage invoicing smoothly.
Translation tools and systems offer a variety of integrations that make working with your projects more efficient. This can include connections to leading content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal, Magento, TYPO3 and countless others, as well as custom translation integrations built on an API whenever required.
By having these connectors in place, you can speed up the process of translating material, and reduce the time needed for unnecessary old-school file attachment and email exchange never-ending loops.
A professional process is essential for ensuring the highest quality translation and customer experience. The process starts with a consultation, during which your translation company will get to know your project and requirements. From here, the language translation process will unfold in a step-by-step workflow, coordinated by your translation company.
The general process is defined in ISO 17100:2015 standard, and can be customized to your specific needs.
In most cases, there are about 10 steps involved, but the process can be further divided into specific sub-processes, depending on the specifics of the project.
So, whether you're looking for a simple translation or a complete process, your translation company can help you get there.
Related content: 4 Main Aspects of the Localization Process [infographic]
Getting an accurate translation quote is the first step in any translation journey. Once you have obtained a quotation, it's important to keep track of the entire process so that you can make informed decisions and realize the greatest possible savings/discounts.
To get started, simply request a translation quote from your preferred agency through their website, client portal or email. You will receive a detailed assessment of your project with cost and time information broken down into language pairs, as well as estimated word count of the original text. Of course, in order to get that, don't forget the assets you want translated. If you value the privacy of your materials (sure you do!), don't hesitate to ask the translation company representative to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
Once you have accepted the quoted price range and timeline, your translation provider will be put to work!
Having a designated point of contact is one of the most important steps in starting your project successfully. It can be your BDR or an account manager who will handle all queries and coordination between you and the project team.
However, with projects becoming increasingly complex and time-sensitive, also for your convenience, your single POC will be the project manager who coordinates all project actions and communication. Actually, this is becoming a common practice. After all, there must be a reason for all these "Account Management for Project Managers" courses out there, right?
Once they have received the localization kit ready and finalized, it's basically up to them to make sure things run smoothly according to plan!
This phase is all about gathering the necessary assets for your project and making them translatable as source formats very often are not localization-ready. Once your project manager has collected everything, they send it off to preparation and conversion in order to get things ready for translation.
At this stage, they will also be collecting any required assets, especially those missing in comparison with what has been received so far, through the client portal, connector, email or a file repository like FTP, OneDrive, Box, Google Drive or Dropbox.
For apps and software assets, the files are prepared by the localization engineer. For publications in InDesign or PDF, a DTP team is needed to prepare those for translation. A word about PDF files: this is a display-only format and every single PDF in the world has been created from something else - Word, said InDesign. This original format is what a translation company needs to offer you a great service. So don't be surprised when you give them your PDF and they ask you for the file it's been created from. This is the easiest, the fastest and the cheapest way for everyone. Reconstructing source from a PDF is expensive, time consuming and error-prone. Protect your great layout and formatting! After all, it's one the most important aspects of your market messaging: the look of your translated material.
Last but not least, you need to hand over all your instructions, terminology, style guides and any other additional materials to your agency at this stage so that they can make their teams aware of your precise requirements so that they can meet them without exceptions.
Now that everything's in place, the linguistic phase of your project can begin.
Translation and revision (also called editing and very often - wrongly - proofreading) are essential steps in the process of achieving quality linguistic content. They play an important role in ensuring that the translated text meets all the necessary standards set out by ISO 17100:2015, as well as meeting your audience's expectations.
This process is started by the project manager sharing translatable files among translators and then revisers for quality control before releasing it for the next steps and ultimately, for final consumption.
If you feel like there are additional steps that need to be taken during this process, such as review, proofreading, language sign-off or even term base/dictionary creation, term extraction or approval, don't hesitate to request them from your project manager.
Once these have all been completed, linguistic quality assurance can begin - a process which aims to check if all revised texts meet rigorous standards set down by ISO 17100:2015 as well as your specific requirements.
The process of translation quality assurance can take many forms, depending on the target language, target audience, document type and the process of translation itself.
For example, it could involve checking for translation errors in specific categories specified by applicable standards such as the DQF. Additionally, QA specialists may use automated tools like XBench or QA Distiller to test if translations are correct and consistent.
In this stage of the process there are several roles that you will be dealing with: quality manager, language lead, terminology manager or even translators. It is important to have a clear understanding of these positions and their respective responsibilities before getting started in this difficult but rewarding journey. Of course, in most cases it will be just your project manager you'll be talking to. Unless you want to discuss something with the entire team. Then, they should be always ready to meet, talk and assist you.
Related content: 7 Rules of Great Translation Quality Assurance
Having completed the linguistic phase, engineers, DTP operators and other experts can now start converting language versions back to original formats.
With larger projects, for example software or website, this process typically involves a lot of additional work like testing, before the project manager can begin preparing delivery for you!
When it comes to translation projects, responsibility starts with the project manager. He or she ensures that all deliverables are in line with your specifications and requirements before handing them over to you. This includes verifying if all assets and languages are there, as well as making sure that everything is correct in every possible aspect (number of files, folder structure and many other important things).
Your project manager can deliver your translation through the client portal or any other method that you requested from them. So far, so good? Now it's time for client (yes, that's you) review!
Client final review is an essential step in the language translation process. It helps you to assess the quality of your agency work and to improve it where necessary.
Always provide feedback to your translation provider as it continuously improves quality. Don't forget quality takes time – so don't be discouraged if things aren’t perfect right away. Translation providers are more than happy when you and your team are open for them training you for using quality assurance tools and processes. This way you are all on the same page and refer to the same metrics. This makes quality management fast, easy, and what's more important, based on substantial framework, and not emotions and preferential likes or dislikes. These are often the reasons for deep misunderstandings between clients and translation providers ending with "It's Google-translated" or "I don't like it, it's not pretty". What if we told you these could be avoided right from the start?
At this stage, your suggestions are implemented and stored in the master translation memory (yes, you are the owner, not the agency) for future reuse and cost savings.
Once everything goes smoothly, this final phase - wrapping up - signals that your project is complete and ready for launch!
So this is the last step. When your project is finally completed and signed off, your partner will send you an invoice according to the terms you've both agreed upon.
Once your finance department approves the invoice, payment should be made as per agreement. However, don't forget about any new projects that might come up in between then and now. Just reach out to your PM to get it on!
Translation can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it's essential for businesses to have accurate and up-to-date translations in order to stay competitive. The process of translation is ultimately a trial-and-error process of mitigating risk as much as possible, and it's important to stay flexible and adapt to the ever-changing needs of your audience, and in effect, your projects.
However, there is one approach that has consistently yielded positive results for businesses of all sizes: the standardized process. By following a set process, the projects can be orchestrated more efficiently and effectively, leading to improved business results. So, whether you're starting from scratch or just want to improve your current language translation process, using a standardized approach can be the key to success.
Of course standardized doesn't mean not customized. The process is there for you, not vice versa. So customize first, then standardize.
There are processes where hybrid or non-standard approach makes the most sense. For example, when you localize software, it may be better for you to take the continuous rather than the traditional waterfall approach. And on top of it, you can machine translation to the human effort and make so called augmented translation out of it. This will impact other sub-processes and stakeholders, of course, from the first to the last step. Moreover, it may need to applying another standard like ISO 18587:2017.
Have a closer look at what's the optimum solution for you, make it the basis of your globalization efforts and you'll see the results soon.
No translation process is quite the same, and that's because translation is an ever-evolving process. By understanding this, you can optimize the language translation process for your needs and get the most accurate translation possible.
Furthermore, it's important to know who will be assisting you in all the main stages of the translation process and make sure that they are fully qualified and up to date with the latest translation trends.
So, if you're looking to improve your translation process or just need some help along the way, start today. Go and grow!
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