Metaglossia: The Translation World

Translation project management made easy

Wordbee automates translation workflows, giving customers a system that reduces ad-hoc project management and increases productivity.
Translation project management is easier in Wordbee, especially where internal translation teams, external translators, and external service providers collaborate across multiple documents.

Wordbee improves the project setup phase

Translation Project setup is largely automated and even allows for crowd-sourcing techniques.
Scheduling is easy and partly automated in Wordbee. You can even see translator availability and words available per day.
For documents that will be regularly updated or translated, the CoDyT module automates large parts of the process including translation memory application and

Drupal 7 is good in serving a multilanguage site. Actually really good, but there are still some issues. Some of them are handled with i18n, some of them will be fixed in Drupal 8.
But there is still one unresolved problem: Translation Workflows.

Sites are not only translated by 1 person before they go live. There can be multiple languages with different people translating it, maybe even with a review process. Or external translation providers, but sending them word documents to translate is a pain.
If this whole structure should work while a site is live and content is generated, this can be hell.

So some companies and developers which build multilanguage sites every day started in 2012 a new project: Translation Management Tools (TMGMT - http://drupal.org/project/tmgmt)
It gives you the possibility to:
- Generate translation jobs with different things (nodes, entities, strings) to translate
- Send them to Translators, Translation Agencies, Export them or even mechanical translators
- Dashboards to see the current translation status
- And many more!

Scott Yancey, Cloudwords CTO and Co-founder, will speak on how Cloudwords designed translation management workflows to streamline the process. He will address how translation customers can use technology to manage multiple projects and vendors simultaneously, while making the process faster and less expensive. He will describe the importance of customer’s centralizing their translation assets such as translation memory and glossaries, and how doing so via the cloud will deliver these capabilities at a price point never before possible. He will discuss how a standardized translation project bidding platform can make selection of translation vendors more transparent and understandable. Finally, Scott will also discuss how to leverage APIs throughout the process to improve integration with multiple tools and vendors.

INTERN, TRANSLATION MANAGEMENT
Location : New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Application Deadline : 10-Sep-12
Type of Contract : Internship
Post Level : Intern
Languages Required :
English French Spanish
Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 01-Oct-2012
Duration of Initial Contract : 3 months
Expected Duration of Assignment : 3-6 months
REFER A FRIEND APPLY NOW
Background
Background:

The Communications Cluster of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is part of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA). The Communications Cluster is looking for a translation intern to assist its Translations Manager in New York. This is an opportunity for translation graduate students to learn the basics of translation project management and help the UN’s leading development agency better serve its constituents through the provision of quality, consistent translation.

PLEASE NOTE THAT INTERNSHIPS AT UNDP ARE NOT PAID. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO:

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/operations/jobs/internships.html
Duties and Responsibilities
The interested candidate will assist the Translations Manager during all stages of the of the translation coordination process:

Handle translation requests from start to handover to clients
Edit and ensure quality of translations
Liaise with translators to ensure timely delivery of translations
Build and maintain of translation memories and glossaries
Contribute ideas to translation management process
Competencies
Must be able to work in a multicultural environment and be aware of political sensitivities
Strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task;
Ability to plan and organize his/her work, observe deadlines
Required Skills and Experience
Must be available at least two days a week through late December 2012

Education:
Candidate must be enrolled in a graduate degree programme in translation, linguistics or literature
Skills:
Knowledge of translation software (e.g. SDL Trados) and use of translation memory is essential.
Solid writing, editing and terminology research skills. Strong organizational skills and ability to multi-task required.
Must be able to work in a multicultural environment and be aware of political sensitivities.
Language:

Native fluency in French or Spanish
Fluency in written and spoken English is required
Knowledge of another language an asset

In a world where companies are taking advantage of cloud offerings for everything from managing customer relationships to implementing marketing campaigns, it is inevitable that other expensive, time-consuming processes will be improved through an offering designed for the cloud. Translation projects are ripe for improvements in cost savings, time savings and global revenue development.
1) Translation Memory: The two largest cost drivers for any individual translation project is the amount of words to translate and the amount of time it takes the vendor to put the final version back together. Until now, vendors have had very little incentive to manage translation memory well or even at all. Cloud-based translation management reduces the number of individual words that need to be translated by always making a company’s most up-to-date translation memory available that can be accessed to increase consistency and quality, while reducing the cost and time needed for each project.
2) Process: Although there is a process needed for high-quality translation, the current process is too long and complicated. A cloud-based translation process will streamline the current process from approximately 50 steps into 10 distinctive, translation-quality-focused steps.
3) Translators: There is a set pool of qualified translators for each language and continuous demand for their services. For too long companies have had to deal with roulette odds of having the same translator work on each of their translation projects. Add to this the frustration of high-quality translators when their work is stained by other people’s poor translation work. The legacy approach only exists because it’s the old way of doing things, and until now customers haven’t demanded a streamlined process.
4) Customers: Whether you have a translation budget of $10 million or $50,000, you desire access to the best translators. A cloud-based approach brings democratization to the translation industry. Customers can choose to on-board their preferred vendors or if they need a new vendor, find one through Cloudwords vendor marketplace, which enables companies of any size to find and secure top-quality translation vendors.

Translation Manager: a service to integrate all your needs
Good day to all,

I'd like to talk about a new, web-based service called Translation Manager (henceforth, TM) by Ooona.net (all the details are available at the website, of course).

TM is a program that sits on a virtual cloud, thus allowing every user to access it from virtually any place with a computer and an internet connection, no installation required.

It works by providing a single program that governs every aspect of translation - from keeping track of hours and payment reports, to setting individual assignments for every employee and giving them access (through their username) to only those features that the manager wishes them to work with.

Simultaniously, it also allows for the manager to keep track of what every employee does, thus maximizing production and minimizing the workload for each member of the team.

Another distinct advantage is that you never have to use an outside tool - meaning that there is no time wasted on integrating different programs, worksheets and the works.

Interview with Simon Tissot, head of the UGZ translation agency.

XTRF™: Why did you choose XTRF™ and which of its features were the most important in making your decision?

Simon Tissot: We have known of the existence of XTRF for several years. It had been recommended by another agency that had looked at the program. When the situation with our old ERP-System became critical, we started the evaluation of a new program. The shift from our old program to XTRF meant the evolution of our processes, as the new software, due to its high customizability, adapted to the individual needs of a translation agency. We also heard that the support provided was excellent, which was crucial to us.

I delivered my latest translation of a novel to the editor in late February and so am currently in between book contracts. At first, it feels wonderful to be free of a huge project that has been on my plate for months. Before long, however, I miss it and am anxious for the next project. There’s no shortage of things to do in between book contracts, though, and I’m kept pretty busy with the following:

In recent years there has been a boom in the use of computer-assisted translation (CAT) based on translation memory systems (TMS), and it is rapidly being deployed in the majority of professional settings that deal with specialised translations. TMS applications have a modular structure, including, among other elements, a bilingual translation environment and a terminology database manager. This workshop deals with the possibilities this new setting offers for resolving terminological problems in specialised translation.

Later this morning I sort of went back to school. As regular readers of this blog will know, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions pool considerable quantities of their resources in an exemplary arrangement that enables them to achieve synergies and economies of scale. The Translation Management Unit, in the Committees’ Joint Services, is a good example of how, in practical terms, those synergies and economies are achieved. Today, the Unit held an open day and generously and thoughtfully invited colleagues to come and learn how they do what they do.

Your company’s Translation Memory (“TM”) may be the most valuable critical asset you’ve never thought of. Your TM probably contains vast amounts of corporate content, from documentation to marketing materials, from legal contracts to HR materials, all existing in every language you do business in.

Yet, most TMs are unmanaged and frequently unsecured, strung across the panoply of localization vendors you use for translations and content management.

SDL recently made a statement via the SDL Users Group on LinkedIn updating and clarifying their strategy for their 2 competing Workflow Management applications, WorldServer and TMS.