1. Project Scope
Translation and revision from English to French of an annual company report of a leading European commercial property developer and management company, for an Edinburgh-based creative design consultancy specializing in corporate reporting, brand building and optimization of integrated media and digital channels.
2. The Task
The task involved the translation and review of individual chapters, delivered in stages, containing a total of over 78k words for translation and 37k words for revision. The project timeframe was seven weeks from delivery of the first documents.
3. The Process
Regular and open communication with the client was a key factor in ensuring the project’s smooth and successful execution. Prior to the first documents being received, an online meeting with the client was arranged to discuss their needs and expectations, and to set out a clear timetable for the deliverables. Once we had a exact understanding of client’s requirements we presented our approach and solutions, which revolved around a collaborative approach using our server CAT tool environment for all projects participants to work on.
With agreement on all sides we ensured that a team of 4 suitably-qualified and experienced French native translators and 2 reviewers was reserved for the project’s duration, and that they were fully briefed and supported on all aspects.
We also put in place a local dedicated Project Manager who was responsible for coordinating the work flows, allocating jobs within the project, document engineering where necessary, and maintaining contact with all parties on the production side, and ultimately for on-time delivery.
4. Challenges & Solutions
From the client’s perspective on-time delivery of particular chapters and terminological accuracy and consistency with the previous materials was of crucial importance. To achieve the latter, our Project Managers organized alignment of the previous versions of the annual report, performed within our CAT tool environment. Once the bilingual aligned versions were ready we could extract the key terminology and prepare detailed instructions for translators and reviewers regarding style, numbering formats, proper names etc. This was a crucial step in the pre-translation set-up phase of the project.
We also agreed with client a detailed schedule in advance to know exactly when the report’s chapters would arrive. This meant we could lock-in our resources’ availability and thus ensure quick commencement and timely delivery.
5. Benefits
Our client received a final translation of high linguistic quality which they were then able to develop into the final for-publication digital product for their client’s benefit.
The deliverable was consistent with previous materials translated for the client, providing a clear, consistent and coherent vision of the company and its 2020 activities.
