Behind the Scenes: Being a Project Manager in the Translation Industry

While the umbrella term ‘project manager’ can be heard in almost all sectors in the professional world, from construction to IT, project management as a practice in the field of translation has only started to emerge in recent years and does not yet, therefore, have the long tradition it is seen to have in many other industries.

Many people still hold the traditional view of translation as an individual sitting behind a computer, transforming texts from one language into another with the use of their bilingualism and a dictionary. There is, however, especially nowadays, a far more complex process that occurs behind the scenes of any translation agency, integral to which is the role of the translation project manager.

The TPM is entrusted with planning, instructing and monitoring, as well as delivering large volumes of accurately-produced information whilst avoiding common pitfalls and resolving problems when they arise, and the above-mentioned four stages of a translation project’s life-cycle, each to a lesser or greater extent, prescribe that a good TPM demonstrate strength in the following fundamental areas:

Communication skills

This characteristic is critical throughout the duration of a project, but at no point is it more important to communicate well than during the planning and instructing phases of an assignment. We, at Rosetta, have a fantastic sales team who liaise solely with our clients, allowing this group of account managers to focus entirely on the customers’ needs and make necessary demands on their behalf, while our team of project managers are in direct contact with our freelance translators. This permits our PMs, in turn, to ensure our linguists’ satisfaction with the work they carry out for us, which is paramount for creating a production cycle that continues to function as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Clarity is the key component in communication between project managers and outsourced translators, since laying the groundwork for a project is fundamental in minimising risk: sending a linguist all the relevant reference material prior to starting a translation assignment, communicating any potential updates during the translation process and being explicit when stating deadlines and specific client instructions leads to high-quality end products and their smooth deliveries. Coherent correspondence between PM and translator is therefore the only way to achieve successful results, to keep the client happy (and coming back) and to avoid feelings of frustration in both the translator and the in-house team, since we are better positioned to understand and convey our clients’ short- and long-term goals. This includes establishing agreed rates with translators, verifying glossaries, text preparation in the initial stages of a project and, at times, obtaining sample translations from the proposed linguists to provide a client with as assurance of a good multilingual end product that fits with the client’s expectations and both their and our budget.

The importance of communication and collaboration between in-house team members should not be underestimated either. We have to manage the work of the internal team as well as that of our external suppliers, who are based around the globe. A source file must be sent out, translated, returned, quality-checked in-house and delivered on time, and so coordination of both these groups of staff members must be taken care of with precision.

Other skills needed for a TPM in the Translation industry

Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

The ability to anticipate potential obstacles prior to delivery is something that improves over time and, at times, by learning from past experience. Requesting that a translation be returned before the standard turnaround time if we foresee any formatting issues arising or if we feel that proofreading the document will take a particularly long time due to a file containing complex terminology is just one of the pre-delivery considerations to take into account. This kind of forward planning and awareness could prevent a late delivery which might lead to a client losing faith in our ability to perform and making the decision to find another service provider.

We must also consider different time zones and offshore bank holidays when liaising with our freelancers: attempting to contact a linguist for a translation we need to deliver 6 hours later will be unlikely to work out for us if said individual has just gone to bed. Similarly, if, for example, a South America-based freelancer sends us the wrong file or there is missing text in his or her translation, we must decide if we will telephone them at their local time of 4am, if we can amend the translation to a suitable extent in-house or if we need to contact an alternative translator who is based in the UK and may be able to assist at short notice.

Making decisions has the potential to present itself as one of the hardest parts of the job; informing a translator or interpreter that we are taking them off an assigned job mid-project because the proof-reader or client is unhappy with the quality of their work is never easy. As a PM, you are effectively the intermediary between the sales team (the client’s representative, of sorts) and the linguist, and there is, of course, strong reason to keep both parties satisfied; making such announcements professionally and with the correct level of diplomacy and tact whilst preserving anonymity between translators and editors is therefore vital for maintaining good working relationships with linguists and clients alike.

Multitasking

   Whilst I agree that being able to prioritise well is a fundamental skill in any job, the  importance of choosing which task/s to tend to or which problem/s to tackle first and  gauging how long to spend on a given job is a work-based quality that every good TPM must  fine tune. It is not uncommon for us to be halfway through checking the quality of a 30-page  translated document when we must pause to re-assign a rush project which is due the next  morning because the current linguist has fallen ill, or to relay a bewildered translator’s  terminology or context query to a hard-to-reach client, for us to then go back to the 30-page  document and resume the task at hand.

At times, we must carry out several tasks for just one of our multiple projects: a document may need to be translated into several languages, and we must make sure that each of these target files is returned to us from different freelancers before the agreed client deadline or rolling deadlines.

Embracing flexibility in this area is, therefore, the only way to avoid missing deadlines, meet customers’ demands and obtain successful results.

Keeping technologically up-to-date

Nowadays, and increasingly so, it is important for project managers as well as translators themselves to remain well informed of software developments, especially those of CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools. I am (certainly) not referring to Google Translate or any other type of machine translation, with which this technology must not be confused, but to the computer software used by human translators to facilitate the translation process and improve the quality of translation output. Particularly, proficiency in translation memory tools and terminology management software can prove a real advantage for linguists and project managers, as they help to save time and money when used properly.

These few cited examples of a translation project manager’s role highlight the way in which they can help to remove stress and uncertainty for an agency’s clients and mitigate risk on their behalf, and how they are, therefore, vital to any successful translation assignment. All projects present their own challenges and satisfactions, but each one is undertaken to create a unique end product; unique not only because it is likely to fall under one or more of the different categories of financial, legal, medical or literary texts, but because it will have come from a different client with different objectives and expectations. It is this intrinsic characteristic of the nature of this role that makes it varied and interesting, from the planning implementation, to the execution and closing of all of our projects.

About the Author

Rossella Mastropietro

Rossella is our Head of Office and Operations. She brings over 10 years of experience in the translation industry, helping our customers communicate seamlessly across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Rossella joined Rosetta in 2014 after completing an MSc in Translation Technology at Imperial College London… Read Full Bio