Creating a more efficient relationship between the localization vendor project manager and the outsourced translation team

Creating a more efficient relationship between the localization vendor project manager and the outsourced translation team

One of the most time challenging issues when you are working on a large, complex, multilanguage project is managing all (at times, as many as 19 languages) of the outsourced translation teams.

Based on experience, here are a few tips to make that relationship tighter and less problematic.

-Most teams will trust the Trados analysis that you send but there is always that one or two teams that must redo the analysis themselves, causing delays. Typically, they come up with a different yet minor result (interestingly enough, they usually don't complain when the word count discrepancy is in their favor) even though they have the same translation memory and use similar settings. This can go back and forth for a few days and wastes a lot of time. In my experience, we agree to disagree and go with one of the logs (typically, theirs). Otherwise, this can go on and on. You need to choose your battles when a looming deadline is on the horizon (and in this business, it usually is).

-Different cultures and teams show different levels of responsiveness. Typically, all teams confirm receipt of the localization kit I prepare but sometimes, one or two of the teams don’t respond at all or only respond after several phone calls and emails. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that they have received the localization kit and will meet your deadline. Follow up with them until you receive a response. On the other hand, I once did not hear from a vendor and was told that he was not used to having to confirm everything and that he found it “bothersome”. I explained to him that if he did not confirm there would no way of knowing that he did indeed receive the kit.

The biggest challenge? Late deliveries. All translation teams agree to the delivery date up front but again, 2-3 teams are always a day late and/or need a “friendly reminder”. It tends to be the same languages every time. I used to battle back and forth with these teams but now, to save myself time and aggravation, I give these particular teams a different deadline than the more reliable teams and end up getting all the localized files from all teams back on the same day, which ensures I make timely deliveries to the client.