Managing a translation project may seem like it simply involves sending a document to a translator, waiting a few days with crossed fingers, and hoping that the English document you sent comes back and looks a little like what you think is Arabic, Burmese or Chinese.

Now, imagine if you had to do that three, seven, 14 or even 50 times over? And then extrapolate that out to include checkers and multilingual typesetting experts (not that working with Jaber has ever caused any issues). Doesn’t that sound exhausting?

It’s times like these when getting in touch with a translation agency, with an effective and efficient project management team, can really pay dividends. A successful and professional  translation agency should be able to easily navigate the potential pitfalls, inherent issues and conceivable catches that may rear their ugly head throughout the translation process.

But just what are these challenges? Just keep reading!

Issues with Multilingual Projects

The Sheer Number of People Involved

For a language service provider that regularly works into and from over 100 languages, a 20-language project could, quite easily, involve more than 60 stakeholders going back and forth all with different perspectives, areas of concern and issues. That’s quite a lot! This is where a project manager who is really worth their salt truly shines, she or he becomes the single point of contact for all those involved.

When a document is too large for a single translator to handle and finish on time, the project manager has resources available to distribute contents and allocate it to the most qualified translator/s. He or she sets the deadlines for everyone, juggling not just the team’s availability but potentially time-zones, public holidays and weekends. Just like how Jaber is pretty much available 24/7, project managers keep the translation agency running at any hour of the day, every day of the week.

Not only does the PM handle project milestones and deadlines, he or she is also in charge of setting and maintaining budgets (not so easy when you consider that every translator in any given language combination has her/his own rates that need to be considered), ensuring effective and open communication channels and keeping on top of all of the administration work. The end result should always be an accurate, timely and cost-effective delivery.

Version Control

As mentioned above, there can be as many as 60 people working on a single project. With each person’s comment comes a new version of the document. A project manager resolves any differences in opinion among the people involved in the project to minimise any errors or omissions of information. They also stay on top of every version to make sure translators aren’t wasting time reviewing comments they have already addressed, or miss a key comment from a checker or the client.

Often, project managers will ask clients whether their documents are finalised or not. Why is that? Just imagine, you are a few days out from finishing a project and then suddenly you realise that one or two sentences need changing, suddenly there are 60+ people you need to let know, 30 documents that need to be edited and re-typeset. It certainly makes it seem like those 60 seconds taken to ask the question are well worth “holding up” a translation.

The One Language That Slows Everything Down

For some languages, like Chinese and Arabic, many translators are going to be available to take on the work (in Australia, at least), but for some, there might only be one or two people in the world who are adequately credentialed (for example, in Australia, translators hold a NAATI Certification credential), and then you still have to cross your fingers and hope they will have time to squeeze you in.

Of course, a rare language might not be the only culprit. It is just as easy for a Tongan translator to get sick or be involved in an accident as her Vietnamese-speaking counterpart.  Then there are the translators who get dragged away unexpectedly and forget to tell you in the emergency, making them almost impossible to contact. When that happens, all you can do is step back and take stock, re-negotiating timelines with checkers, typesetters and most importantly clients. In some extreme cases, you might just need to cut your losses and find someone new to take care of it.

Then, of course, there are languages that are just time consuming during other stages of the project. For example, typesetting a language like Thai, Khmer, Urdu or Persian can be time consuming. With languages like Thai and Khmer, a translator needs to go over the text with a fine-toothed comb to make sure that no words are broken across lines. This can sometimes take three or four sets of reviews, being particularly careful not to introduce new mistakes. Likewise, right-to-left languages with left-to-right text inserted in them introduce a new set of challenges for PMs. Thankfully, typesetters are highly experienced in working with languages that don’t always work the same way, say, English works.

Cultural Sensitivities

Cultural sensitivity not only applies to the way content has to be translated but also in managing translators working on a project. As a translator, there are times when a word or a string of phrases can’t simply be translated into other languages. Project managers work hard together with the checkers and translators to overcome these challenges, be this through communicating concerns to the client, suggesting ways to potentially improve the source text, or suggesting other ways to achieve equivalent effect. Furthermore, the way translators operate depends on their culture. As such, a project manager has to be aware of these cultural considerations, and be respectful of the translators with whom they are working. Being in tune with how a translator works is key in bringing out the best results for a translation project.

The project manager ensures that the content goes through the right steps so that the translated deliverables contain the same meaning as the source text. He or she coordinates the team from the translation revision and editing by specialised professional linguists to ensure excellent quality.

Client Expectations

For clients, it is essential that accuracy is ensured.. How? One way is to standardise processes. A dedicated project manager acts as the point person on translation challenges, questions and problems. Not only that but having a shared framework in addressing and categorising errors helps a lot. It provides collaborative tools over several languages and helps the management understand any obstacles and progresses that occur throughout the translation project.

Project managers also search, evaluate and categorise translators depending on their experience and qualifications. Take this instance for example, by carefully sourcing a professional Arabic translator and allocating translation requests to the right translators, quality Arabic translations are made, and client expectations are met.

For example, not all clients know that, for some languages, their document is going to be flipped along the Y-axis to accommodate a language that reads right-to-left, as mentioned before. In these instances, a project manager needs to work to help the client understand that, just because something looks different, it isn’t necessarily “bad” or “wrong”. For example, in French and a range of other European languages, a comma is used to indicate a decimal and a full stop is used to separate thousands from hundred. Similarly, in Chinese, the number “815,000” would be more adequately translated as “81.5 ten thousands”. This last one is particularly problematic, given that there is often an expectation that numbers will be preserved exactly in translation.

As a client, your project manager is always there to help you understand anything that looks a little different, particularly if you don’t have a lot of experience in the translation industry.

Conclusion

All in all, working with a translation agency means working with someone who has experience in dealing with all the issues above, who can help simplify the translation process. After all, the project manager is one of the key factors in the success of a translation project. A multilingual project without a project manager could be thought of as a cake without eggs, all the best ingredients may have been mixed together, but it’s going to take a lot of effort to get everything to hold together.

A trusted project manager knows your preferences and business. They have all the tools and the knowledge to guide you and your translations with safety and quality.  So say goodbye to all the inaccuracies and complicated translation processes associated with doing coordinating everything yourself, work with a professional translation agency. A strong translation partner, working with a world-class typesetting specialist such as Jaber is truly a partnership destined for success.

About the Author

Costa Vasili is the founder and CEO of EthnoLink, a translation agency based in Australia. Born to Greek Cypriot parents, Costa has been fascinated by language and culture from an early age. With a keen interest in project management, leadership and disruptive technology, Costa is focused on the continual development of the translation industry in Australia.