Translation Project Management

okay, I understand and will make sure it gets done by Thursday. I just want to say that most of my work has been from English (not German translations), and I want to make sure you get the best quality for this type of marketing text. Plus it seems you started mentioning that it was a rush only about a week ago. I think we wasted a lot of time communicating through Yuri, during which time I did not get any confirmation to start etc. Anyway, I'll mention the state of affairs and make sure to get you as perfect quality as possible by Thursday. For example, another translation process I like to do for projects requiring high quality is to send back to the translator the changes made by the proofreader, so that they can give their opinion. Just more file forwarding and waiting for translators' opinions etc. Anyway, just want to make sure your site is as perfect as possible. Hopefully I will be able to send the translations before Thursday.

I guess we'll tweak this over time. The most important thing about the .xls file is when you vet non-Transit files and I need you to punch in the word counts, so I know what to pay the translators and charge the customer. The most important thing about the txt file is so we both know what the last order number is, so that we know what order number to give to a new management project, depending on who will be the first of us to create the appropriate folder and order number in Desknow. The second important thing about this file is to give me basic information which I can access online any time a customer may want me to send them a previous translation again (for example, if I am up in the mountains away from my computer).

Just started translating the approach letter, so as soon as that is done I'll ask you for your collected emails, and you can try some other categories or countries or something.

I've been playing around with the program a bit and found out that it could be a bit more complicated than I originally anticipated. In short, I might not be able to figure out repetitions from previous translation management projects without the customer's help. Within translation projects it is easy, or if the customer sent a larger volume at a time, but not across different projects, unless the customer would send me its source files, or an export from its translation memory program, which I assume it is using. In any case, as I previously mentioned, and even to Charles, I can do it your previously suggested manner, meaning a light proofread of the entire text. I think it would have been easier and clearer if Charles simpy stated a price and time limit. Like 34 dollars an hour, and 8 hours for a file of 15,000 words. I am used to charging per word. For example, I had translators who could fit into your budget for the Korean translation project, but I felt uncomfortable about charging per hour, because the translator could simply say any number of hours. I brought this up with Charles but he did not respond. So I gave a charge per word, and Charles chose someone else. If he simply said that X and X is the customer's budget (price per hour, at X hours), see if you can find someone to fit into that, it would have been a simple matter for me. So sorry if I got frustrated, but I spent a lot of time and energy getting people prepared for your translation language projects, I haven't had much work for a long time so I am financially stressed, I was only receiving ridiculously small work projects from your staff, I wasn't getting straight answers, and then I hear accusations that the problem is on my end. Anyway, to keep things simple: (1) I can use my program to keep the translator from reproofreading internal repetitions, meaning on a per project basis, and may be able to extend this across several projects with your customer's help, or (2), I do it as you have proposed, but with a clearly defined budget every time (number of hours, and number of dollars per hour). With this defined information I can simply approach my people and ask them whether or not they are interested. And if your staff wants to send me any other objects, that they should just be absolutely clear about things. And if there is any question whatsoever, I do not budge unless I receive clarification, if that is the way you want to operate. But if they send me work at the end of the week and I will not be able to receive clarification until Monday, it means I will not be able to get a project done over the weekend like your staff might hope. Which brings us back to a conversation I had with your staff a long time ago, meaning our protocol of operation. I am referring to the 11 languages project and the misunderstanding from Ivane. Either I make an executive assumption and proceed, or I do not proceed if there is any question. We can write up some clear instructions and follow them, but Ivane simply deviated from them and I do not accept any blame for this. I check my email all the time. I now have a Turkish telephone number so you can use that if you really need immediate verification. Or we can figure out some exact method of cooperation to make things work. But the method we have been working together lately has not been clear at all. Well, won't bother you any more.

you approached me for the Panasonic tender and we are still working on putting that tender together. In the meantime and on another note, I am making my first major marketing push, which will also include an attempt to find Chinese customers. We are presently putting together an email in Chinese with which to approach Chinese customers, and it is possible that some of them may respond back to me in Chinese. In which case I would need someone to help me with communication. Not a full translation of each letter but just to get the basic point across to me. Or perhaps communicate directly with the Chinese customer, assuming you would already know what response to give them. Or possibly some project management work, such as prepare files for us and sent by a Chinese customer, so that the translators can immediately begin translating when they wake up on the European time zone. What would you charge per hour for this type of general work?

thank you for the comments, but concerning the formatting changes you made, I told you that I am proofreading the file at the same time and if you propose any changes you must put them all in < > brackets, so that I can apply those changes to the proofread document. I have no clue what formatting changes you made, so I cannot use them, and I cannot "merge" documents or the changes either. Please remember this for the next time you vet a file which is being proofread at the same time.