It Was an Otter Success — Simulating a Multi-Locale Translation Project with Trados

Project Overview

In order to gain valuable insight and experience, I, and four other translators of different language pairs, simulated a translation project as a team. The project first involved the creation of a statement of work (SOW). The translation was then carried out with each translator being responsible for their own language. At the end, each completed translation, as well as all other promised deliverables, were collected and submitted to the simulated client. I took the role of project manager, and ensured each translation was completed in a timely manner and deliverables were in a consistent format. I also took charge of the creation of the SOW and the collection and delivery of the deliverables.

The details of the project are written below. Additionally, our lessons learned and important takeaways can be found at the end. Overall, I found it to be a valuable learning experience and would recommend something similar to anyone wishing to gain experience utilizing Trados as a team.

The Team

The Source

The document we were tasked with translating was a ~300 word article about otters for the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Otter Awareness Week. We were provided with a Word document for the project; however, here is a PDF of the document for your convenience.

Project Kickoff

Statement of Work

Each of us first inputted our own thoughts into a Google Doc where we worked together to compile all the necessary information for a SOW. This progressed altogether smoothly and I was pleased by how quickly we were able to gather the necessary information. I produced an SOW using inDesign and after doing so, the first issue became very clear: It was much too long. Our first draft of the SOW reached amost 4 pages, when it should have been at maximum 2. This was primarily because we had split our pricing between two different graphs which each took up about half a page. Combining the two graphs, as well as shortening the content elsewhere allowed us to create a SOW that I was very happy with.

My personal takeaway from this was that if I have a project that many people are contributing to concurrently, I should make sure that it is made in a program that each person knows how to use. I enjoyed learning and working with inDesign, but as I was the only one with inDesign experience, every draft had to go through me. This was inconvenient, especially when I was occupied with other work and the other members of my team could not directly edit the file. I should have probably stuck with Google Docs.

Kickoff Meeting with Client

After delivering the SOW, we simulated a meeting with a client from Monterey Bay Aquarium who hired us to translate the article. The client asked several questions about the workflow and timing, as well as costs, however we were prepared and our SOW was quite robust. Nevertheless one question that we didn’t see coming was one about client review. We incorrectly assumed that we should not allow for client review, however we should have been more flexible. A better strategy would have been to offer a meeting with the client’s internal linguists to establish a style guide and make note of their preferences.

The Deliverables

1. Pseudo Translations

In order to make sure the article’s formatting wouldn’t change too severely between languages, translator’s first provided pseudo-translations of the article. This showed that the translators were safe to work without fear of the formatting becoming too broken.

2. Translation Memories (TM)

To simulate how translators might build a lasting relationship with a company, each translator was tasked with creating a and exporting a TM. The creation went well, however when it came to uploading the TMs, there was a small issue. In our simulation we could not assume the client would be able to work with Trados, so we needed to upload our files in general formats. Half of the translators uploaded the file in the .sdltm format, which is only usable within trados. I needed to request that the reupload in a .tmx format which is more readily used by other programs. As a PM, I learned that I should specify and make clear what formats are needed for the project and how those formats can be found or worked with.

Because of the nature of .tmx files, I cannot share them in my post; however, if you want to check them out you can always Contact Me.

3. Termbases

Similarly to the TMs, there was some confusion about the format of the Termbases. In the end, Excel was chosen for its ubiquity, but this should have been decided and agreed upon from the beginning.

4. Completed Translations

Besides some confusion about file naming conventions, the translations progressed smoothly and without issue. They were delivered in the format they were received: as Word documents.