Preparing a Translation Project

Any translation project requires a preparation phase that determines the quality of the final product. Answering a few essential questions before the translation phase helps avoid the classic pitfalls. If in doubt, consult your translation agency, and they will assist you in this preparatory phase and take on the entire project.

Defining the targets for the translation project

This preliminary study seems to flow naturally but it is however not always carried out with the rigor that is needed. The qualification of the target groups and thus of the audience allows to define the language combinations and to prioritize them in indispensable, necessary and secondary combinations. If 80% of an English-speaking target is in the USA, it would be a shame to translate a text into British or international English when there is US English. The same applies to Catalan, Castilian and Spanish from South America whose variants are clearly localised. Finally, if your Dutch readership is overwhelmingly located in Belgium, opt for Flemish rather than Dutch from the Netherlands.

Defining the goal of the translation

The objective of a translation is to know what type of linguistic transposition should be used: Translation, Localisation or Transcreation? These benefits are very different. Translation is the process of transposing a text, while retaining its meaning and effect, from the source language to the target language. The translator works in a linear way, without changing the order of paragraphs and ideas; they are not supposed to adapt or modify it. Localisation consists, through the use of language codes and customs specific to the target country, of adapting it to the culture of the target country (units of measurement, currencies etc.). In concrete terms, when you have a translation project, it is most often a localisation project. Finally, Transcreation consists of rewriting a text, in the target language, in order to obtain a, most commonly emotional impact on the reader. If you want to convey information, we will use translation, if you want to influence the behavior of the reader, for example advertising campaigns, we’ll use transcreation.

Defining reasonable time frames

Not all texts require the same time constraints, but some documents might deserve almost as much time as that given to the drafting of the source text. Translation is an intellectual service that takes time. An average translator translates 1500 words per day, and post-editing can take up to 5000. These figures are a good basis for defining the deadlines to be taken into account in the preparatory phase. For transcreation, the deadlines are not based on the number of words but on the client’s expectations.

Document summary

Translation is not a consumer good but an intellectual service. Translators, even if they are masters of their field of specialisation, do not know everything about the company. Providing precise documentation allows the project to be prepared, and a terminology glossary is compiled which will guarantee the accuracy of the vocabulary used.

The choice of service provider

It’s still quite common to see companies multiplying their translation service providers: a freelance for one language, an agency for another, a second agency for a third language. This selection, often linked to the price, reveals a short-term view, which usually produces the opposite effect of what is sought. By dispersing its translations, the company reduces the possibility of creating a large multilingual glossary, optimising document synthesis, to produce a large dedicated translation memory that quickly reduces costs by taking into account the famous “rate of word repetitions”. Thus, entrusting your translation budget to a single provider is a long-term win.

Translation project related services

Modern translation agencies mostly integrate services that complement the translation (services for integration of translations into websites, layout and graphic execution of translated texts, transcription of translations from audio sources, the integration of subscripts in videos, multilingual SEO, etc.) The translation agency is naturally better equipped (mastery of the rules of hyphenation, writing and language spread). The European Commission has recently published a study on the role of the media in the European audiovisual industry.

Levels of proofreading

There is a distinction between revision, which consists in checking the quality of the translation, and correction, which consists in checking the grammatical, orthographic, typographical and syntactic rules. All translations are proofread at least once by the translator responsible for translation and a quality check. They can also be proofread by a third-party translator as in ISO17100 certified translations. For these, the proofreading phase is as important as the translation phase. From some published texts, the future or image of a company depends on them, so it is important to avoid any errors in translation, style, spelling or grammar. In these cases, an ISO17100 translation incorporating the revision from a second translator is essential.

Do you have a translation project? Here are some essential steps to get the desired result in the shortest amount of time.