The nearly ubiquitous demand of ASAP translation generally is indicative of a much larger problem. That is, lack of an effective strategy (or lack of a strategy altogether) specifically for translation. Failure to develop an effective translation strategy is a primary cause of translation errors that may be costing your company money.

Read complete article: Who needs a translation or localization strategy, anyway?

Real World Example
The due date for the Japanese translation project below was a mere 3 days from receipt of the job notification email.

Okay, let's jump right in with a project breakdown analysis:

• Specialized knowledge required: 5-6 sets of expertise
• Specialized skill required: SDLX Translation Suite
• Number of Japanese translators required: 67-111
• Number of proof-checkers required: 17-28
• Project setup time required: 3 days

I’m sure you can see how this project can never be completed within 3 days, according to your quality expectations.

No Strategy...What could possible go wrong?
Here are just some of the many "tricks of the trade" translation companies?can employ to meet your unrealistic deadline:

1. Cut corners during the translator evaluation process resulting in unqualified translators on the project.
2. Bring non-native translators onto the team producing unnatural, or stilted, translation.
3. Pressure translators to increase their daily capacity resulting in countless translation errors.
4. Employ machine translation (MT) that more often than not produces gibberish.
5. Cut back, or skip altogether, the proof-checking process allowing errors to go to print undetected.

In today's ultra-competitive market place, a product launch under this scenario would be akin to the kiss of death!

Develop an effective strategy
The following strategy will reduce revenue lost to translation errors (and maintain product launches!):

1. Develop a set of quality standards for all projects.
2. Implement a project management system to ensure professional steward of projects.
3. Employ a professional project manager.
4. Establish a single point-of-contact role (usually project manager) for all stakeholders.
5. Create a guideline for identifying the right external service providers for each project.

Reduce and eliminate errors -- Strategy + Alpha
Implement a translation strategy, and ensure your company no longer loses revenue through avoidable translation errors.

Read complete article: Who needs a translation or localization strategy, anyway?

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, the owner of Japan based Translation Company Tokyo Visit SAECULII for the latest professional articles and news on Japanese Translation Service

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