"Sauregurkenzeit"

Sauregurkenzeit (literally: pickle time) is what German-speaking business people and journalists call the summer months, particularly July and August. With Europe's customary 4+ weeks of vacation per year and school out, many businesses there operate on a greatly reduced staff. As a result, few new projects are scheduled during this time, so there is not much need for translation services. This would then be a great time for us translators to take a break, too.

Unfortunately, here in the U.S. vacation time for employees is usually much less generous. So while we might be able to take a month off, our partners often can only take a week or two. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I spent a week vacationing in and around Washington, D.C. -- not exactly off the grid, but interesting all the same.

Since my return, projects have been slow to arrive. With the heat wave we have had here in New York, I found it difficult to concentrate in the middle of the day when the temperature in my office reached the mid-80s (Fahrenheit) or so. So using that time for relatively mindless filing and general organizing seemed like a good idea. I've also tried to use some of this slack time to increase my marketing efforts. On the other hand, with everyone to whom I am marketing myself away, that doesn't necessarily work so well, either.

I'm about to leave my office again for a while -- this time to attend the Congress of the International Translators Federation in San Francisco next week. I am taking my netbook and I will monitor my e-mail on my smartphone, but I am not accepting new projects for next week. I'll try to blog next Wednesday, but that's the night when the Congress holds an international dance party, so I may not get to it.

Have a relaxing summer!

Ideal Workflow

I recently received an e-mail requesting permission to reprint my April 1 blog post on client education in an upcoming issue of the American Translators Association's Chronicle. In that post, I promised to blog on my ideal translation process. So here is what I'd like that process to look like, from start to finish:

• I receive an e-mail from a new potential end client requesting quote on translating documents attached to the e-mail.


• I check the client on the web (more on that in another post) and evaluate the documents directly in my e-mail application. I decide I'm interested in the project.


• I open a project mgmt/invoicing/translation memory application and input the client's basic information (name, address, etc., as well as language of communication) and flag him/her as a potential client, as a new client, and as an end client (as opposed to an agency), then attach the e-mail I received to that record.


• I download the documents attached to the e-mail.


• The software automatically creates a directory for them (based on a directory structure I previously specified) and assigns a project number clearly identifying this as only a potential project.


• I initiate creation of a quote by selecting a couple of parameters (currency, price level, due date). At this time, I also specify the documents' subject matter(s), as well as source and target language variations (Austrian German, German German, U.S. English, etc.).


• The software counts the number of words in the source documents (even if they're in PowerPoint, PDF or similar formats) and displays a quote based on previously defined conditions (surcharge for PDF format, deposit requirement for new clients, ...) in the communication language I specified for the client. It also creates an e-mail message to go with the quote (based on boilerplate text I have previously input).


• I review the quote and click "send".


• The software sends the e-mail, attaches it to the client record and automatically enters a reminder to follow up after a previously specified number of days into my electronic task list, with a link to a follow-up e-mail.


• On that follow-up date, that task is displayed in my to-do list. I click a link in the task and the software displays a follow-up e-mail based on previously input boilerplate text and personalized with the client's name, date of initial contact/request, date and number of proposal, etc. Since my availability changed in the meantime, I edit the e-mail to propose a later due date. I am really interested in this project, so I decide that a second follow-up may be necessary. I select that option, as well as the form of communication for it, in the software, then click "send".


• The software sends the e-mail, attaches it to the client record and enters the second reminder in my task list. Since I selected telephone follow-up for this one, the task includes a link to Skype.


• The second reminder date arrives. I click the Skype link in the task, which dials the client's phone number in Skype.


• I reach the client and he agrees to the project over the phone. I ask for a written confirmation, which the client agrees to provide by e-mail.


• The client's confirmation e-mail arrives.


• The software links that e-mail to the client's record. I flag the e-mail as confirmation of the proposal and change the due date. The software removes the "potential client" flag from the client record, and changes the project number from a potential project to a "current" one. It also enters a task in my task list with the due date and project number, as well as a link to the directory for the documents to be translated. If the due date is more than a specified number of days in the future, it also adds a second task a specified number of days before the due date to remind me to start the project, again with a link to the project directory


• When that start date arrives, I click the link in the task, which takes me to the first of the source documents opened in the translation memory software. Based on the subject matter and language variations I specified earlier, the software selects the appropriate glossaries in the TM software. Since this is a new end client, it also creates a new translation memory with that client's name (I previously specified that each end client gets his/her own translation memory). If this had been an agency, the software would display a list of existing end clients where I could either pick one or add a new end client. The software also adds the TM and glossaries selected to the record for this project.


• Since the source files are PDFs, I direct the software to convert them to MS Word. The software uses Acrobat and a multi-lingual OCR program to provide an MS Word document with all images removed, but formatting intact and image captions preserved; text flows throughout the entire document rather than being corralled in text boxes, except for very special cases.


• I translate the text using the translation memory and glossaries set up above. During that work the software automatically saves a copy of the files on which I am working in a specified interval.


• In the course of the translation, I decide that a separate glossary for a new subject matter would be helpful.


• I create that new glossary by adding a term and specifying "new" rather than picking an existing glossary. In addition to creating the new glossary on the fly, the software adds that new subject matter to the list of subject matters from which I can pick when initially adding a project. It also adds the glossary to the record of glossaries/TMs used for this project.


• When I am finished with the translation, I can preview the translated document as it will appear to the client. Any changes I make in this preview are automatically also made to the TM.


• Each day at a preset time, the software backs up any projects I worked on during that day to an external hard drive attached to my home network. It also tracks the time I spent on each project.


• When I am finished translating and editing a project, I tell the translation memory portion of the software that I'm done. It saves the translated files in the appropriate format (MS Word for Word files and PDFs, Excel and PowerPoint files in their original formats) and displays these final files.


• I briefly review the final translated files to make sure formatting didn't go astray or caption text, etc. is missing, then click "project completed" in the main software.


• The software creates an e-mail to the client with boilerplate text and the final files attached.


• I review that e-mail, adding a note to wish him a good trip later that week and click "send".


• The software sends the e-mail to the client, attaches it and the project files to the client record, backs up all project files to the external hard drive, marks the project as completed and enters a task in my to-do list for the next day to follow up on whether the files were received.


• The next day, the client e-mails back that the files arrived safely.


• I open the follow-up task and click the "files received Ok" option in the task (the other options being "send follow-up e-mail" and "resend files").


• The software flags the project record as ready for invoicing.


• During the next weekly invoicing cycle, the software automatically invoices this client, based on the parameters I had set during the creation of the quote (language, price level, etc) and using my standard terms.


• I review and approve the invoice, changing the standard terms to accommodate the client's billing cycle (which he had explained in my phone call). I can also edit the standard e-mail the software created to go with the invoice.


• The software sends the e-mail and creates a task in my to-do list to follow up on payment a specified number of days after the invoice's due date.


• The client does not pay by the due date.


• A link in the follow-up task that appears on my to-do list goes to a boiler-plate follow-up e-mail. I review and send that e-mail.


• The client pays my bank account electronically, which triggers an automatic e-mail from my bank with a standard subject line, format and e-mail address.


• After initial setup to specify these bank parameters, the software recognizes this as a bank e-mail and retrieves the pertinent details from it. During the next invoicing cycle, the software notifies me that this invoice has been paid.


• I approve the payment receipt and the software marks the invoice as paid and enters the payment in the accounting portion of the software, including crediting it to the appropriate bank account.

I know that this kind of seamless integration of various disparate softwares and level of customization for my particular workflow is probably a pipe dream. The challenge now is to see how much of it can be implemented with existing commercial software at a reasonable price ...

Client Education & Translation Processes

Yesterday I went to the Barnes & Nobles text book store on 5th Ave. and 18th Street in Manhattan (New York City). The store bills itself as "the largest bookstore in the world" on some of its windows facing 18th Street. Not finding any books on translation theory or practice in likely sections (Foreign Language, Linguistics, Reference), I asked a store clerk. After looking my request up on a computer, he announced that the store didn't carry a single book on translation.

In the March 2010 ATA Chronicle (the American Translators Association's magazine), Howard Clark calls the U.S. "an immigrant-based, yet largely language-ignorant society" in his opinion piece "Clients, Freelancers & Translation Agencies: Productive Partnership or Missed Opportunities?" It seems to me his assessment is spot-on. Mr. Clark then continues that, given this fact, "client education is critical".

Right again, but how do we, as translators, educate an end client whose identity we may not even know? This should be the translation agency's responsibility, but in my experience in the real world of short deadlines and tough competition for large projects that education is frequently given short shrift. If we work directly for end clients, our chances of explaining how translation works and what is required for a sucessful, high-quality product, are much better.

One resource for doing so is the American Translators Association's Client Outreach Kit. Another is a page on our workflow, either posted on our website or sent to prospective clients along with other promotional literature. The advantage of such a page (which agencies sometimes already have) is not only client education, but also a way for translators to learn best practices from each other. Maybe another translator has already found a solution to an issue I am still struggling with. If he/she has posted his/her translation process, I can profit from his/her experience, rather than having to re-invent the solution.

While each of us works a little differently, much of the process is likely the same -- or at least very similar -- for all of us. Through sharing our own workflows, we may be able to define a relatively standard process for non-agency projects. Such a standard process would, in turn, simplify client education. End clients would have a better idea what to expect when hiring a translator and may therefore be more likely to actually provide the resources and time we need to produce a high-quality translation.

Based on Linda L. Gaus's "Top 10 Pet Peeves of a Technical Translator" (ATA Chronicle, February 2009), here are some items to be incorporated in educating clients about translation processes:

• Provide context
  
• Provide reference materials
  
• Provide specialized terminology
  
• Have time for questions
  
• Don't assume you speak the target language better than the translator
  
• Proofread/edit the source documents
  
• Finalize the text before translation begins
  
• Provide diagrams/illustrations where appropriate
  
• Empower one person to decide translation questions
  
• Schedule sufficient time for the translation
  

Look for a future post on my own workflow and ideal translation process.