All project financials are determined during this step, so we can settle the money matters at an early stage and focus on the translation. Projects for new clients start with a quote; those who have a long relationship with us already know our pricing. In either case, we usually bill for our translation services based on the source word count, i.e., the number of words in the original document. Rest assured, there’ll be no unwelcome surprises after the translation is delivered—we will invoice exactly what we quoted.

Once the quote is accepted and/or we receive the go-ahead, we start analyzing the project in more detail. Being firm believers in the importance of context, we may ask the client for reference PDFs, project briefs or instructions, glossaries and other supporting documentation, which in turn will be studied, prepared and shared with the right team members.  

Preparing source documents correctly is another important aspect of this phase. Some documents can be worked on without need for additional formatting, while others need preparation. At The Sensus Team, we can work with editable or uneditable documents. Editable files are those that can be read and parsed by computer software, such as documents created in a word-processing application or typesetting software; uneditable files are the those that can’t be easily processed, such as scanned PDFs or graphic files. If this is the case, we can recreate the document almost exactly. We do it before translating, which often helps us reduce the final layout work and speed up the post-translation stage. (We can even deliver editable source files along with the translation to clients who need them.)

Once a project has been accepted and prepared, we decide on the best team for the job based on a number of factors (continuity, familiarity with the subject matter, availability, etc.). Team members are contacted early on, so even when an additional preparation step—such as design work or glossary creation—is required, the linguists can be prepared and schedule their workload accordingly. We insist that the team members and freelancers read the reference documents and, whenever possible, the source documents before translating them to identify any potential pitfalls, and encourage them to ask questions early on—questions that we usually pass on to the client unless more experienced team members can address them.

The project is registered in our translation management system, so that every team member has access to every source and reference document and client instructions they need to do their job right. The system also makes it easy for linguists to look up project information such as due dates and the amount they’ll be paid. It also sends out automated notifications at the start and in the middle of all projects to make sure that the team members are aware of an upcoming delivery.

The translation team then starts the translation process proper. By now, the translator or translators will have read or at least skimmed through the text to get an overview. They may decide to research some key ideas or terms as they go along, or do some preliminary background reading when advisable. What happens next may vary, but by and large, most translators rely on a three-step process: 1. initial translation; 2. reviewing the accuracy of the initial translation, and 3. refining and signing off on the translation. While we fully understand that some projects are time-critical, it is important that the translators be given enough time to take a break before this final stage, so they can clear their minds and be more effective in the final review.

As already mentioned, we don’t use machine translation (MT) when translating. (We do offer a service called “post-machine translation editing,” but that is an entirely different process.) Although MT has become surprisingly good for certain types of documents in recent years and will undoubtedly play a major role in the translation process in the future, for now, we prefer to translate everything with human translators. Among other things, using MT implies us sending the source text to the MT provider, which we cannot do to protect the confidentiality of our clients’ data.

All communication during this stage takes place through closed chat channels, which include all team members and project managers, working together on solving different challenges posed by the project. When the translation team needs the clients’ assistance, they fill out a tailored web form which logs their query and alerts the project managers, who reviews the questions, sends them if appropriate to the client and follows up on them until the matter is resolved.

Anyone who has experience working with computer documents for extended periods knows that there comes a point where mental fatigue reduces overall awareness and acuity, leading to the inability to see one’s own errors, mistakes and omissions. To counter this, we believe that every translation needs to be reviewed by a “fresh pair of eyes,” i.e. a second linguist not involved in the original translation. This is what helps us catch mistakes and errors, in addition to improving the text. As opposed to farming out the translation and editing tasks to people who are complete strangers, our team has the advantage of translators and editors knowing each other and being familiar with each other’s style. We also habitually shuffle the teams, so most team members alternate between translating and editing.

All our prices include these two steps (translation and editing). Optionally—and ideally—a third person, called a proofreader, takes another look at the document. As opposed to the second participant, the proofreader reads only the text in the target language. This service is not included in the base price and needs to be quoted separately. It will also require an additional time investment for the project.

Once the linguistic steps are completed, the project manager takes over. The project manager or the design specialist checks the final layout, making sure everything is formatted correctly and matches the original. The translation is then sent to the client using their preferred delivery method..

No project is done until client says it’s done. Any changes communicated to us as part of client QA are promptly discussed with the team and implemented in our systems, so we have a record of client preferences for future projects.