Technical translation is of great significance to enterprises, for the quality of translation may determine corporate image and promotion of products and technology. High-quality translation can help an enterprise open the door to success, while poor-quality translation will only make an enterprises miss the boat.
Technical translation asks for higher professional knowledge, technical accuracy, and context consistency, adding complexity and difficulty in translating large technical documents; therefore, how to manage and coordinate translators and how to ensure quality and progress become very challenging to the project manager.
Based on the extensive experience in large technical document translation, we have worked out an effective translation workflow, which focuses on detail and process management as well as teamwork to ensure project quality and efficient progress. This workflow has been thoroughly tested and shown to be effective and applicable to document translation that has high requirements for professionalism, accuracy and consistency. The workflow comprises three stages: project preparation, project implementation, and delivery, acceptance and evaluation.
After customer requirements are confirmed, the project manager analyzes the project and selects qualified translators and proofreaders to set up a project team. Then, the project manager assigns tasks to each team member, specifies process management requirements, and arranges professional training or ambiguity clarification when necessary. Responsible translators or the project manager pre-processes the project documents and extracts terms and saves them to a project termbase.
The focuses of this stage are process management and dynamic project management. Process management asks each team member to upload process documents as required, based on which project-related work can be better coordinated among translators, proofreaders, project manager, and quality assurance staff. During the project implementation course, if requirements change, the project termbase is adjusted, or feedback on problems exists, all the team members can promptly release dynamic information. Such a dynamic project management method facilitates communication among team members.
After the project documents are translated, proofread, typeset, and undergone the quality control procedure, the project manager can deliver the translated documents to the customer for acceptance. If modification is required, the translated documents will be modified by the translators as required, undergone the quality control procedure and delivered to the customer until the customer becomes satisfied. After project acceptance, the customer and project manager conduct quantitative evaluation on the team and its members. For the project that is scored less than 80 points, the QA staff will initiate quality backtracking, and team members are asked to reflect on the root cause of the issue, to put forward corrective measures.
- Professional
Translation Team - Workflow of Technical Translation/li>
- All-round Quality Assurance System
- Technical means