What is the Process of Translation?

The process of performing a (technical) translation has changed dramatically over the past few years. The translator is a classic example of someone who "works behind closed doors" and this was (and still is) often meant literally.

Translation agencies employed salaried translators who sat in their office and worked through the never-ending piles of work. The scene didn't change when translation memories emerged, with Trados as the most prominent example of these. Now, translators were relieved from handling repetitions (which were no longer paid), but they were still left alone with their work, cut off from the outside world.

Increasingly dynamic globalization and the heavy growth of the European Union in Europe led to a dramatic increase in translation volume, not least because of the increased number of target languages, and thus an increase in costs. At the same time, the lifetime of products decreased in many areas. As a result, tougher deadlines were needed for documentation and subsequent translations.

Examples:

An inkjet printer will be sold for a few months until it has been replaced by a follow-up model. The good ol' documentation and translation process takes about three months which holds up the stormy selling phase for this product - bitter for the manufacturer. Here, every week counts!
Mobile phones are marketed in many countries. A typical requirement is that documentation is simultaneously translated into 65 languages.

If the volume increases and the time shortens, this is bound to have a negative effect on the quality.

The reverse is true. If a manufacturer in Germany wants to stand out from the crowd of cheap imports from low-wage countries, he needs to have a product that has the same look and feel as a local product (made in Germany or, at least, tailored to German needs). This leads to a considerable increase in translation requirements. It is not enough that the translation is technically accurate and understandable, it also has to read like it's an original text.

The documentation for follow-up models should adopt as much as possible from its predecessors. However, sorting out the texts and memories is time-consuming and labor-intensive

The time and effort to manage single translators or agencies in each country is too much, and translation agencies, of course, cannot cover all languages at the same location.

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Dilemma: Large volumes with short turnaround times make it necessary for several translators to work on a project. How can you make sure that they formulate the translations consistently?

The solution to these and other problems is based on the Internet. It allows real-time communication, automatic file transfers without user intervention, work on files that are located on a remote server, work in a virtual group, and so on. So, it does not matter (or not matter too much) where the translator is located: They can share an office with others or work at home, sit on the beach in Hawaii or in the heart of Berlin. All that they need is a reliable connection to the Internet.

Instead of negotiating with 65 translators in as many countries, the customer uses his content management system or another solution to directly communicate with the vendor and automate the translation process.

The vendor in turn uses a database-controlled, central translation memory with an associated workflow system to prepare the content and provide it to translators in each of the countries. If multiple translators work on a document, they can view identical or similar sentences from their colleagues while they work. They can use these matches and thus match their work.

Internal staff on the vendor side check the quality and ensure the process is trouble-free. They test and train new translators, communicate with the customer and also translate themselves.