Translation Process

At KENAX we strive to design the best possible translation process in order to provide an excellent service. Our translation process has been developed over a decade and is founded on experience with many large projects. Whether a translation requires a single translator or a very large team, proper management logistics ensures a smooth operation and excellent results. After all, as they say in the translation business, one always needs their translation done "yesterday". We have provided many large translation projects for our clients over the years and it seems that many customers discuss things in the boardroom, closing deals and negotiating, perhaps having some reasonably healthy padding of time set aside, but by the time the translation is required, the various departments within the company have already used up the padding of time and now everything is rush rush rush. Or perhaps a large manufacturer has sold one of its expensive products, but by the time negotiations have been sealed and all other logistics taken care of, and the product is practically sitting on the doorstep of its customer's headquarters, the sales contract stipulates that the expensive and complicated machinery must be delivered with an extensive instructions manual, inevitably in the language of the client's workers. And, inevitably, these instructions are incorporated in the sales contract and must be delivered together with the product, otherwise heavy fines for late delivery are imposed. We have done such extensive translations practically overnight, with the customer worriedly breathing down our neck at every moment. And you can imagine that such important and complicated documentation is not an easy task to translate, let alone at a good quality which the workers would understand and could rely on.
For such large and speedy translations a team of quality translators is necessary, but also a sound logistical system which could handle all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. This is because the translation must be divided up into small chunks which each translator can accomplish over a period of one or two days. When the translator sends in their small portion, they must have another small portion immediately available to them (or already have one assigned them as a backup) to prevent any loss of downtime and reduction in efficiency. When they deliver their small portions, each of them must be immediately forwarded to the proofreader and vettor so that the process can continue uninterrupted. Each piece must be eventually incorporated into the document's whole, which can pose a bit of a formatting nightmare. When new terms pop up, they must be consulted with the lead translator or subject expert to maintain uniform quality and terminology. A dictionary must be constantly developed and distributed for reference among all the translators. And translator enquiries and questions concerning the product must be dealt with swiftly.
As you can imagine the constant management of all these little pieces can get rather hectic, but for this we have various software to help us, as well as a robust and developed web interface, such as our virtual translation office. This system allows us to provide round-the-clock technical support for our translators, who are often located on different time zones, and keep the KENAX translation engine working nonstop. It can be a rather intriguing system to develop, but a difficult one to explain to our customers, for which reason we have created the above visual Flash presentation to aid in this.
 

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Explanation of the Translation Process for the Flash Presentation

One of the aspect of my website which I would like to develop is to explain to customers how the translation process works.
Essentially, there is a translator, sometimes followed by a proofreader, and then a vettor (the person who checks the translation against the original to make sure that nothing is missing and that the formatting is correct). After that there can be a final check by the project manager before the translation is sent to the customer.
But with large translation projects, this system becomes more complicated, and I think it would be interesting to explain this using some Flash presentation.
Let’s say 200 pages need to be translated within two weeks. Perhaps we would use 15 translators. One lead translator would be used, who would be in charge of choosing translation terminology, and who might spot check the translations by the other translators to make sure terminology and style are generally followed. The lead translator would create a dictionary of translated terminology, which the other translators would follow. When confronted with new terminology which is not in the dictionary, the other translators might ask the lead translator what terminology should be used. The dictionary would be constantly updated and sent to the translators as support/reference material.
The aim of this would be to maintain translation consistency and cohesion of terminology, so that the entire document would be uniform.
In some cases, the lead translator might want to consult with a terminology specialist (who we can provide for him/her). A person who works and is an expert in that particular field but who is not necessarily a good or professional translator.
As soon as one translator would translate a day’s worth of translation, perhaps 10 pages (let us refer to that as a “package”), that section would then be forwarded to the next stage, which would be the proofreading stage. Usually we would try to use a single proofreader, to strive for consistent style. The proofreader can also make sure that the translators have adhered to the translation terminology in the dictionary prepared by lead translator, sending the relevant translators particular instructions if they are not following the instructions properly.
Alternatively, the work performed by the proofreader can be sent back to the translator, where the Revisions tool in Word can be used to show the translator exactly what changes were made by the proofreader. The translator could then study the changes and learn from them, to improve their work, improving overall translation quality and saving the proofreader work with upcoming packages produced by that translator.
After the proofreading stage, the individual packages would then be forwarded to the vettors, who would make sure that the formatting is consistent according to the original. If something is found missing, it is sent back to the translator for finalisation. Once a package is finalised, or all the packages have been finalised, they are compiled together into a single document and the overall formatting unified. For this purpose, a template can be created at the beginning of the project into which the translators translate, to help with overall unification of formatting.

So I thought this could all be visually explained in some Flash presentation.
If possible, I would like to set it up so that the Flash presentation could not be downloaded and used by another translation agency.
I first imagined using squares or rectangles to represent each translator, with some flow chart or smaller squares or triangles representing each package (day’s worth of translation) produced by each translator, where the squares are lined up horizontally next to one another, representing each stage of the overall translation process. If more than one proofreader is used, which may be necessary with larger projects which must be completed within a tight deadline, there could be several squares for the proofreading stage as well. Same with the vetting stage.
The terminology specialist could be a separate square to the right of the translation phase. A lead proofreader could be used as well, who would spot check the work of the other proofreaders.

So I think it would be nice to explain all this visually somehow, to impress onto a customer our ability to handle such large translation projects within a short period of time, something we have accomplished many times in the past.

French to English Translations Translator