Technical Translations

Translation of Technical Manuals Relating to Air Pump for Chemical Mixing, Steam Turbine System, Lube Oil, Closed Cooling Water Pump, Compressed Air System, Overhead Crane, Auxiliary Boiler, Gas System, etc. (Since December 2010)

Why HQ-Translators?

This client approached HQ-Translators for 3 main reasons:

• Firstly, their budget was particularly tight as it was the end of year already and they had almost nothing left in their coffers
• Secondly, they wanted their project to be handled by a team of professionals who work on a regular and daily basis and know all the intricacies related to the translation business
• Thirdly, the client needed a language service provider who was flexible both in terms of deadline and payment terms.

Background

Our client’s client is an American multinational giant operating through the following segments: Power & Water, Oil and Gas, Transportation, Automotive, Software Development, Engineering Industries, etc. Translation is an important service to this company, as they use it to have their user manuals and brochures translated in order to be able to sell their products worldwide.

The Challenge

We had to translate 80,000 words within 5 days. Being unavailable for the weekend, we actually had 3 days since the client sent the project on Friday at the end of the day. In addition to the tight deadline, another challenge was the format of the files. As a matter of fact, the files received were in Tag editor, which was quite difficult to handle when it came to sharing. With 10 in-house translators to translate, edit and proofread this project, we had to deploy a strategy to be able to meet our client’s expectations.

How HQT Helped

The first thing HQ-Translators did was convert the files to a format that could be shared among many linguists. Next, we had to see how many people were needed to cover this project, within the tight deadline we had. In other words, we needed to translate 80,000 words within 3 days while making sure there was no compromise whatsoever regarding the quality of the final product. To address this issue, we selected 20 freelance translators (all of them professional and regular collaborators, each translating 2,000 words per day) and 10 additional freelance translators with the same background to edit (4,000 words per day for each editor) the translated output. As for the 10 in-house linguists who make up the staff of HQ-Translators, 8 were handpicked to proofread the final product to ensure the target language read smoothly, naturally, and easily.

The Result

Three days later, by the end of business, we had successfully finished the translation, the editing, and the proofreading. The files were converted back to the client’s initial tag editor and delivered to him along the translation memory we also transformed into a glossary at his request for him to use. The client was happy since he replied favourably regarding the feedback and later on paid for it within 60 days (during this period, he had enough time to check and recheck to make sure all was ok, before he could pay)as agreed without any problem.