Trad Online

Hello and thanks for this blog, I check it from time to time and find it very interesting. I felt the need to react to this post, working myself for a translation agency as project manager. What you may (or may not) know is that project managers handle quite a lot of projects at a time. Let's say that for a single project there are a dozen languages, for another one 5 languages, etc. So, multiply the number of projects * number of languages required * 2 (for translator and proofreader) and you get the number of people who you're in touch with daily (not to mention clients or your colleagues). Working in a translation agency means juggling all the time with deadlines / people / files and keep everyone happy without losing money. It's very challenging and interesting, don't misunderstand me. But I sometimes envy translators, who can focus on a task more than 30 minutes ; a translation PM is constantly under fire and multitasking. Therefore I can understand that sometimes things don't go too well, i.e a file is forgotten and sent late to the proofreader. In that regard, it's also hard to expect a PM to send your translated file to the proofreader the next minute, when your email is just one of 150 daily emails received… You may say then that we could be better organised, but just like all freelancers in the translation business, we never know when and how many projects we'll get : sometimes there's plenty of time, sometimes we're at full speed. >> Direct clients usually ask me how much time I will need to finish a translation project, whereas agencies usually stipulate the time frame for project completion. Of course, when we do a quote, we agree on a set deadline with the client, based on our experience from other translation projects. Just imagine for a website into 10 languages if we had to define different deadlines for each language, after contacting 10 translators, half of which would already be busy on another project, so then 5 more translat

En tant que représentante de l'agence de traduction Trad Online à Lyon, j'aimerais partager avec les lecteurs d'Intermédia un petit retour d'expérience concernant la traduction de sites web. Nous avons géré plusieurs projets importants de ce type en 2011, et avant de demander un devis et vous représenter combien coûtera la traduction d'un site en anglais, ou en 5 langues, voici quelques questions à se poser, notamment sur ce que l'on souhaite traduire ! On peut diviser les types de contenus en 5 catégories... 

Very interesting post, as I'm on the PM side for Trad Online. However, I must say that I disagree with your point on the format : we've had to translate Word, Excel or Powerpoint files at best, but also many application files (.xml,.po,.strings, etc) or even directly online on the client's website. Take the exemple of application files : they open with a plain text editor, impossible to track changes, lots of code to be left untranslated, punctuation to watch carefully, etc. Client's website, even worse : no back-up, possible server crash and loss of data and various technical problems. It's impossible to expect the client to provide only clean Word documents... however, it would be reasonable to ask for more for these types of texts. What do you think ?

I quite don't agree with "as agencies want to make profit of each project you can expect the price with translation agencies is well below what you usually charge customers (sometimes even only half of your normal price)". The difference in the prices freelance can charge to agencies vs direct clients is not due to the fact that we (I'm talking about Trad Online here) "want to make profit" in the sense of "becoming super rich at the expense of translators" - but you need to consider 1. the considerable amount of time spent looking for new customers (and keeping them) and 2. the time spent managing problems on some projects (last example I have in mind : a client wanting to provide a secure access to their website, which led to long discussion as to what technical means would be used). This has a cost. AND, if I may add another comment : of course that making (some) profit is the idea (along with providing a service) - if not, why bother working ? ;) Thanks anyway for this post, it was a very good read !

Bonjour Eric et merci pour cet article ! Je rejoins certains points, notamment que sur la base d'un effet de mode tout le monde s'auto-proclame Community Manager, c'est fou en un an le nombre de gens « qualifiés » qui sont apparus. Pour ma part je commence tout juste à me trouver une légitimité à ce poste chez Trad Online et pourtant j'ai fait des études en sciences de l'information avec une spécialité en veille, formé des étudiants à la gestion de son identité numérique et passé des heures à triturer des flux RSS et poster sur les réseaux sociaux. Et malgré ça, je pense que sans connaissance du secteur dans lequel l'entreprise évolue, un CM sera inefficace voire nuisible à cette entreprise. Comment répondre à des gens qui passent par les réseaux sociaux pour le SAV ou posent des questions techniques complexes si l'on n'a qu'une connaissance vague des produits et services proposés, de la philosophie maison, de la typologie des clients ou fournisseurs ? Pour ma part je n'aurai pas pu faire ceci sans être en interne ET faire la même chose que mes collègues, à savoir gérer des projets de traduction. Cela permet une connaissance complète des ficelles du métier, ce qui permet d'autant mieux d'en parler (dans un blog ou ailleurs). Sinon, c'est juste de la comm' corporate sans intérêt pour les internautes. Je me permettrais juste d'ajouter (mais là c'est une déformation professionnelle je l'avoue) qu'à mon sens une maîtrise parfaite de l'orthographe et un soupçon de multilinguisme sont également des qualités indispensables, bien plus que d'être un pro de la vidéo ou du son (moins utilisés que l'écrit quand même). Du coup (subtile transition), je signale une vraie faute dans l'article : on dit « empathique » et pas « emphatique », le premier désignant l'empathie et le 2e l'emphase, ce qui n'est quand même pas pareil ;) A bientôt à Lille peut-être ! Aurélie

Wordbee, a Luxembourg based company, specialized in Computer-Assisted Translation, receives the "Gold European Seal of e-Excellence" in the Language technology category for its online collaborative platform, Wordbee Translator.

The buzz has encouraged me to consider doing a multi-lingual Kindle version of my book the Home Computer Wars. My interview by Stefan Egger in Austria was translated into English - http://scacom.bplaced.net/Collection/English/interview.html

Please review the proposed action program found in the Annual Plan for 2011 and provide feedback via the interoperability watchdog survey.

It seems to be a general misunderstanding of the differencies between a text meant to be read and a text meant to be heard.

When you are learning a new language, Is it easier to learn to speak the new language or learn how to write the language?

On average, TWB volunteers translate 1 million words per year, focusing on three types of humanitarian translations: crisis translations needed urgently to inform people in crisis, translations that support an NGO's operations, and educational translations that directly support people in need.

Thank you for the invitation to join the group. I have written Wise Words & Witty Expressions, which is a collection of the expressions my Irish American mother said to me growing up and profound, funny and even sarcastic. The expressions are universal for all cultures and I was wondering if translated if there is a broader market.

Time management is of the essence for any freelancer. How many times have we heard from freelancers about how they sat down for an assignment and then the 'time just flew away'?

Is it realistic to try to become fluent in a new language in 2 years? What are your experiences when taking on a new language? I have a fairly solid foundation in German, but found French to be difficult.

A review of 'The Prosperous Translator' - translating can be both intellectually and financially rewarding if you have the right skills and the right clients.

It makes the overall writing experience comparatively faster, easier and way better than its counterparts, it helps you in speeding up the writing process by completing words as well as sentences while you type in any windows application on your PC such as MS word, Internet Explorer, Outlook, Skype etc.

"Overseeing Strategic and Stakeholder Issues" << Surveillance des problématiques décisionnelles stratégiques et de préoccupations des intervenants>> I welcome all suggestions!

Hello, Thanks for the invitation to the group - looks like a great collaboration site! I am currently working on a translation project that is new territory for me. We have a site created for a global community across more than 137 organizations that are based in NA, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. The site is young, and the original material was all in English.

Any advice on how i should build it? should i include a line for 'tight deadlines"?