A simulation of a 4-languages SDL Trados package delivery

I grouped together with 3 other translators to simulate a Trados delivery project from beginning to end to learn about Trados's challenges and setbacks in more depth. The project included creating a SOW/work proposal based on CAT tool analysis, pseudo-translation, establishing a Style Guide, a glossary, and TMs, delivering the final language packages, and recording a video on lessons learned.

Introduction

WHAT IS TRANSLATION TECHNOLOGY

Translation Technology refers to technologies that are important in management, engineering, and linguistic roles in translation and localization, including various tools that aid the process of translation and editing workflows.

As a Translation and Localization Management graduate student in the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, the Translation and Technology course thought by Prof. Adam Wooten helped me to understand better the significance of CAT tools to create translation memories, termbases, and manage terminology, to reuse previous translations to perform quality assurance within the tool beyond the regular processes of translating and editing.

More, the course included some interesting lessons about different types of machine translations and post-editing from the perspective of a translator.

As part of the course work, within the Bike Inside Trados delivery project, I grouped together with 3 other translators to simulate the workflow of a translation project from beginning to end using SDL Trados.

If you are interested in the subject of AI and MT, read my blog post here:

Proposal

STATEMENT OF WORK

A Statement of Work (SOW) is a document within a contract that describes the work requirements for a specific project along with its performance and design expectations.

When setting up a translation project and communicating with a potential client, it is essential to provide a short, clearly written statement about the project details that contains the expectation and requirements of the project to avoid misunderstandings. The statement of works includes the name and the description of the project, the timeline with appropriate due dates, cost, and resources (people, time, tools). Additionally, the SOW includes the outline of the phases of the translation project starting with the setup or preparation phase which demonstrates to the client that everything is ready for translation. In our case, the emphasis was to show how Trados will be used to execute the job and how it will help with the initial setup to simplify the technical and linguistic aspects of the entire project. The setup phase will be followed by the production phase which includes additional details and steps if necessary. The final phase is finalization to ensure that the translation meets all the requirements set up previously.

Finally, the SOW lists all the deliverable files and documents that were agreed upon with the client.

Because we found some errors in the source text, we suggested some edits to the client and agreed that we will include both the original and the suggested source file in the deliverables.

Ideally, the presentation of an SOW involves meeting with the client in person or - given our limitations these days with personal encounters -, an online meeting where both parties can raise questions and come to a final agreement.

After the agreement, the translation process can begin.

Delivery

TRADOS DELIVERY PACKAGE

Our Trados delivery package included the following files and documents:

Deliverables:

• Source document (original)

• Source document (with proposed and accepted edits implemented into our CAT tool set up)

• Style Guide for Quality Assurance

Language deliverables:

• German: Pseudo translation (Word); Target text (translation , PDF); Translation Memory; Term Base (glossary)

• Hungarian: Pseudo translation (Word); Target text (translation , PDF); Translation Memory; Term Base (glossary)

• Italian: Pseudo translation (Word); Target text (translation , PDF); Translation Memory; Term Base (glossary)

• Portuguese: Pseudo translation (Word); Target text (translation , PDF); Translation Memory; Term Base (glossary)

BIKE INSIDE TRADOS DELIVERY

Lessons Learned Video

GET A QUOTE FOR A SIMILAR PROJECT

Do you have a Hungarian translation project that requires a similar execution? Contact us with the details; we will set up a free consultation with you and provide you a free written project quote.