Recommendations for Freelance Translators:

A study from a project manager’s perspective

  started working as a project manager in one of the translation companies in London just after graduating from a translation and interpreting MA course at the University of Westminster in London. At the time when I started to manage translation and interpreting projects, I had significant experience in the translation and interpreting industry, from my work as a freelance linguist.

This may be partly due to lack of experience in working on complicated projects requiring following complex instructions and partly due to the fact that the translator’s position within a project may be unclear to some of them. As they typically work from home on a freelance basis, they might lack understanding of the overall process (Matis: 2005). They might question whether some of the project manager’s instructions are essential. They might wonder “why is the use of and compliance with this or that file format so important? Why is a specific machine setup required to carry out a given piece of translation? Is it truly necessary to respect deadlines, which are sometimes defined to the hour?” (Matis: 2005). Benmessaoud (date of publication unknown) gave a good example of such a situation and as she reported that during a translation project “translators were given instructions not to change file names but were not given the reason for this instruction. They failed to see the importance of such a measure and changed the file names, which meant that hyperlinks would not work and that the names had to be restored by the project managers”. This example highlights how crucial communication is. Thanks to translators’ and project managers’ joint effort, all similar issues can be addressed on time and smooth workflow can be achieved.   

In this article, I will aim to present some general rules that, in my opinion, should be followed by all translators who want to establish and maintain long-term cooperation with translation agencies and other language services buyers. As summed up by Rico, project management in the translation industry “has just started to emerge in recent years and does not yet have the long tradition it has in other fields” (2002). With that in mind, this guide might prove a useful base for those who are unfamiliar with the area. Rico, in her study published in the Translation Journal in 2002, has described translation workflow from a project manager point of view. I will endeavor to discuss it from the same point of view with emphasis on a translator’s role and responsibilities.   

Accepting Jobs

These days most assignments need to be turned around quickly and there is not much time to waste. This applies to both organizing projects and doing the actual work. So the rush affects all individuals involved in the translation process: PMs, translators, proofreaders, reviewers, and DTP specialists, to the same extent. Any delay in the process, on the part of a translator or any other member of a translation team will lead to workflow revision. We all need to stay calm and learn to say no to deadlines that are simply not feasible or can affect the quality of translation to be provided. Therefore, a translator who takes on an assignment with a tight deadline and then asks for a time extension is not going to be deemed reliable in the future. With this in mind, all translators need to be realistic and acknowledge their limitations. As a translator myself, I am fully aware of the fact that it can be difficult to reject projects, especially when trying to impress and possibly add a good client to a client base. However, from experience I know that failing to meet a deadline, especially a short one, will stay in a PM’s mind for a long time (they need to break the bad news to the end client). Whereas if you reject an assignment saying you are too busy or you cannot make this tight deadline, you will come across as professional. It is always a good idea to suggest an alternative delivery time and date and inform of your availability for the upcoming days, on this occasion.

Workflow

These days some assignments may get incredibly complex. Very often many individuals are involved in a production process and a copy sign off can be a very lengthy process. This may be one of the reasons why a translation process is very often interrupted and source texts can be amended (text added or deleted); new reference materials may come to light and this may impact the meaning which, as a result may impact the translation; the end client may decide to change tone of voice or form of address (e.g. having discovered that a target audience needs to be treated with more distance in the target culture)--to name just a few instances of how a perfectly planned workflow may need to be completely revised. 

The two most important things to always bear in mind are: keep a clear head and remember that, more often than not, it is not the PM who is creating all these complications. They would like the projects to run smoothly and do not want to double or triple their already stretched workloads. It is perfectly fine to ask for additional remuneration from the agency which can seek additional cost approval and will probably grant it if the client agrees. It seems to me that the best strategy is: try to deal with amendments step by step; do not promise miracles, and always act professionally.

Even if you have a strong opinion about a client, do not voice it. If a project goes on for longer than expected and you have another, previously arranged booking from another client, advise the PM of that. Make sure they know you are not running away from the assignment. If you can, provide alternatives: recommend a colleague, or suggest a deadline you can live with. Your PM will appreciate it as, at the end of the day, they need to see this particular project completed and invoiced. 

Communication

Communication with the PM is the key for translators who rely on translation agencies for their income. A PM will probably prefer to work with individuals who communicate efficiently and are reliable. Translation degree, experience, additional qualifications, software and fields of specialism are key in getting your foot in the door (or e-mail in the e-mail box in this instance) and are crucial in terms of the quality of service you are offering.

However, after you have ticked all the boxes and been added to a database, you need to be able to sell your services. Hopefully, there has already come or will soon come, a moment in your professional life, when you do not need new clients and enough work is coming in to keep you busy. Until this happens (and after it happens as well), it is advisable that you come across as professional, efficient, and keen to get involved in new projects. Unfortunately, many translation agencies have started to use more and more impersonal forms of communication (such as e-platforms where translators are asked to download texts from) so there are not many occasions to promote yourself, as described by Fire Ant and Worker Bee (2011). Whenever given the opportunity, try to come across as a confident individual who is willing to help. You will find that this adds value to your linguistic competence which will be appreciated. 

Delivery of projects is crucial. PMs very often do not speak your target or source (or either) languages. You are their expert so it would inadvisable to deliver a final translation with a note saying: “I hope this is ok”. You need to assure your PM that to the best of your knowledge and belief, the translation is correct. Also, one should remember not to deliver a translation with a blank e-mail. Every translator should remember that a PM may be receiving many e-mails every day so it is better to be as clear as possible. This requires an e-mail to always contain a subject, a message and attachments (if applicable).  

Reading and Understandig Briefs

As mentioned above, more and more projects have become increasingly complicated. As a direct result of that, some briefs (also known as instruction sheets) that need to be sent out to translators, are complicated and require a lot of attention and patience on the part of the translators. Some briefs contain questions that need to be answered before a job is assigned to a translator. These questions might be related to the register that needs to be used (e.g. formal or informal) and a client may be waiting for a confirmation on some queries as well. If a translator fails to answer the question but instead, accepts the job, a PM probably will start to wonder what went wrong. He or she will need to resend the e-mail to repeat the questions and perhaps re-phrase them. It is understandable that both PMs and translators need to, more and more often, work to their full capacity; therefore, there is no time to read all e-mails carefully, especially during a working day. In such a case, the translator would be well-advised to send an e-mail to inform the PM, first, if there is any potential availability in the translator's schedule and, second, if the translator is available, informing when the PM can expect a detailed reply to the e-mail.     

After accepting a job, all queries should be resolved. If any part of a brief is overly complicated or is ambiguous, the translator should always try to seek clarification. There is a difference between what needs to be queried and clarified with a PM and what can be left to assumption. This depends on the expertise of each translator. Some clients, especially the ones who do not understand translation process, refuse to answer queries and do not want to participate in a translation process. The PM, as well as the translator, can often try to research some concepts and try to look for reference materials.  

Study

In order to present what problems may occur during a translation process, I have conducted a study which lasted one month (from 30 September till 31 October 2011). Its primary aim was to capture project management-related problems during a translation process at Creative Translation Ltd in London. Although I conducted the study as a project manager, its focus is on translators who, during the period of this month, worked on a freelance basis for Creative Translation Ltd.

Freelancers

It is worth pointing out that all freelancers working for Creative Translation Ltd are experienced linguist, all hold a translation or linguistics degree and all are based in their target countries. What is more, all speak very good English so it can be safely assumed that they do not have any problems with understanding translation briefs in English.  

In analyzing the collected data, one should bear in mind that some of the projects are regular projects which come in on a regular basis. In these cases, the translators are mostly our regular translators, who are familiar with the project’s requirements. In such a situation, there is not much room for mistake because translators know what to expect from the project management and translation point of view. They are used to the format in which the reference material is sent, they know how to deliver a ready translation (which format) and how to deliver an unclean file (which enables translation memory management). As a result, data collected from these projects usually would not have any project management-related issues.

Data Collected in the Study

For the purposes of the study, I divided project management-related problems into three groups:

·         sloppy communication;

·         missed deadline;

·         not following the brief.

By sloppy communication I meant:

·         accepting a job without confirming the deadline when it was clearly said that the deadline had to be confirmed;

·         accepting a job without answering queries that were listed in a brief; in many cases clients want to know how a translator will approach some translation-related issues e.g. how proper names will be handled (should they be transliterated or left in English or should both solutions be applied simultaneously?); in such a case this question would be asked in a translation brief and an answer would be expected together with a confirmation of acceptance of the assignment;

·         not replying to a brief, not accepting a job and then delivering a translation (regardless of the fact that a cancellation e-mail is sent to all translators that were approached with a job but were not selected for an assignment);

·         delivering a finished translation accompanied by statements such as “I hope this is ok”, “I do not understand this phrase/sentence/text but I translated it literally”;

·         delivering a finished translation accompanied by a set of queries which should have been resolved earlier (especially if the deadline was not short);

·         delivering a finished translation and informing that a translator will not be available to answer any queries any time soon by e-mail or phone.

By missed deadline I meant:

• not delivering a translation at the agreed time and date without any notice (sometimes a missed deadline can be justified and if an end client is warned of the revised schedule, it may not have any serious consequences);
• not delivering a translation at the agreed time and date explaining that the translator thought that the time and date specified in the brief was referring to the time zone the translator is in (all delivery times given in briefs are expressed in UK time, and it is always specified so if translators has read the briefs carefully, such situations should not occur);
• not delivering a translation at all (no explanation given, no contact made).

By not following a brief I meant:

• disregarding information given in a brief and raising queries that have been answered in the brief;
• ignoring information given in a brief regarding formatting (e.g. underline the translation of the sentence “This contract is null and void”); this is particularly important with multi-language jobs where a project manager might have problems with finding this sentence himself/herself;
• delivering a translation without an unclean file (or with an unclean file in an incorrect format); there is no excuse for that, since this is discussed at the beginning of cooperation with each and every freelance translator; nearly all jobs at Creative Translation Ltd require the use of a CAT tool, and this information is always repeated in the brief and should be followed; 
• not delivering an updated unclean file if there are rounds of amendments after translation delivery, a translator should automatically deliver an updated unclean file, after  having introduced changes to a translation because, e.g.  a proofreader has spotted an inconsistency, an updated unclean file should be sent automatically;
• not using reference material provided (documents in PDF format, visuals of advertising campaigns, photos, websites), if there is text that can be Win Aligned and entered into a Translation Memory, it is always done in-house so the reference material, if provided, needs to be seen during a translation process as it usually provides context to a new product or concept. E.g. while translating a description of a new fluffy toy, it is useful to have its photo; I would always check with the end client if such a photo exists;
• delivering the translation in a bilingual document, without being asked to do it. Sometimes translators deliver translations in one document together with a source text. The project manager needs to then extract the translation to a separate document which may prove tricky if, e.g. the translation is supplied in a table. 

Results of the study

Statistics

A distinction was made between a translation project and a translation assignment for the purposes of the study. A translation project must involve at least one translation assignment and can involve more assignments whereas a translation assignment is simply a translation task. When more languages are involved in a project, all of them need to be treated separately in terms of project management-related problems. This is due to the fact that some translators may not encounter any problems with following a translation brief, whereas others may. Therefore, any translation assignment which is part of a bigger translation project should be treated separately for the purpose of statistics.

Results of the Study-Analysis

The results of my study show a significant number of instances where sloppy communication was present. Usually, in all these instances the translation had been resolved, but it required additional time on the part of a project manager. In all cases, all project management-related problems (sloppy communication, missed deadline and not following a translation brief) caused delays in delivering the translations to the end clients. Usually, if a project involves translation of a text or texts into several languages, clients prefer to receive all languages at the same times. Consequently, a delay in case of one language means a project cannot be delivered at all. As a result of every significant delay, the end client may ask for a discount in the final price and also might decide not to entrust the agency with any further translation work.

Sloppy Communication

49% of all projects were affected by sloppy communication. In 17% of all translation assignments, sloppy communication was an issue. It means that in 23 translation assignments out of 133 in total, communication was an issue. It also means a considerable delay was caused in the translation workflow. This delay may have affected the bottom line and the reputation of the company.

Missed Deadline

In 11% projects delivery time was an issue. In 4% of all translation assignments, translations were not delivered on time. It means that the delivery deadlines translators committed themselves to were unrealistic. Again, this may have caused grave consequences for project managers and the company as an enterprise.

Not Following the Brief

This category of project management-related problems is very broad. 45% of all projects were affected by translators who did not follow the brief, and this was the case in 16% of the total number of translation assignments. This means that either translators take on too much work and do not have enough time to read and understand briefs (and make any queries before they get down to work) or they simply do not realize how important translations briefs are. Usually, translators work as a part of a team, even if they do not realize it, and their falling to perform a task affects other individuals, including project managers. If a job is complicated and involves several languages, it is crucial that all instructions are rigorously followed.

Conclusion

The aim of this study was to show how vital good project management is in every translation process. These days translators need to have good understanding of translation as a process involving clients, DTP artists, proofreaders and project managers. Translation is a key part in this production chain, but needs to go hand in hand with other parts of the production process, and this is impossible if a translator is not a good communicator.

In every instance where a translator misses a deadline or does not follow a translation brief, the project manager is obliged to make a note of that on a shared database so that other project managers can access this information and consider it when sending out future translation work. This consequence might seem trivial when compared to the punishment received by John Mills who was commissioned to translate “Cyclopaedie” into French by Andre Le Breton in 1743. According to Lough (1971: 11), Le Breton, after having discovered Mills had not done the work he was commissioned to do, beat Mills with a cane.

Although translators these days fortunately do not face such severe consequences for failing to deliver translations to clients, they should try to understand the process they are part of on an everyday basis. The vast majority of them do, and those who are new to the profession, usually grasp the basic rules very quickly. However, as this study has demonstrated, a small number of professional translators can still improve in this respect.  

As described by Arno (2006), the director of a UK-based translation business, in his article with an appropriate sub-title “Juggling Words and People”, “the importance of a good working relationship between project managers and translators must never be underestimated.” This is definitely the conclusion everyone involved in a translation business needs to bear in mind.

            I would be inclined to agree with Matis (2005), who claims an “introduction to project management within targeted courses in translation schools allows future translators to understand the professional world they are entering and the importance of their involvement in large-scale projects.” I believe such courses would be a valuable addition to the existing curricula of translation schools. It would benefit both agencies and translators. Translation agencies would undoubtedly feel more at ease with recruiting recent graduates who can demonstrate some knowledge of project management. Translators, on the other hand, would be more confident that they can meet all requirements specified by translation agencies in job advertisements. After all, words widely used in job advertisements, such as “communicative” and “team-player” have specific meaning in the translation industry and those should be brought to the attention of translators-to-be before they set off on their freelance journey.

Bibliography

1. Arno, Ch (2006), The Insider’s Guide to Project Management in Translation Agencies, article 57, http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/article57.htm, [Accessed 06.11.2011].
2. Benmessaoud, S (date of publication unknown), A Step By Step Guide to Translation Project Management, article 1543, http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1543.php, [Accessed 06.11.2011].
3. Fire Ant and Worker Bee (2011), Translation Journal, The Bottom Line, Volume 15, No. 4 October 2011, http://translationjournal.net/journal/58fawb.htm, [Accessed 22.10.2011].
4. Lough, J (1971) (11), The Encyclopedie. Longman Group Ltd, available at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=s05xHE24PEkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=canne&f=false , [Accessed 17.10.2011].
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6.      Newmark, P (2005), Textbook on translation. Pearlson Education Limited: Harlow

7.      Rico, C (2002), Translation Journal, Translation and Project Management, Volume 6, No 4 October 2002, available at www.translationjournal.net/journal//22project.htm [Accessed 11.10.2011].