The following content is translated from Chinese source by machine translation without post-editing.
The fifth “TalkingChina Festival” has come to an end. This year’s Translation Festival follows the tradition of previous editions and selects the honorary title of “TalkingChina is a good translator”. This year’s selection was based on the amount of cooperation between the translator and TalkingChina (amount/number of orders) and PM feedback. 20 winners were selected from the non-English translators who had worked with him in the past year.
These 20 translators cover many common small languages such as Japanese, Arabic, German, French, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc. Not only do these translators have the largest number of orders, but in the eyes of the PM, her/their response speed is His comprehensive qualities such as communication and cooperation and professional quality are outstanding, and the translation projects he is responsible for have won praise and trust from customers many times.
At industry exchange lectures at translation training institutions or translation professional schools, I am often asked: “What abilities are needed to work in a translation position? Is a CATTI certificate necessary? How does TalkingChina Company select translators? Can they pass the test? Can we guarantee the number of translation manuscripts?”
For the Resources Department, in the recruitment process, we have conducted a preliminary screening through basic qualifications such as academic qualifications and majors, and conducted a secondary effective screening using a translation proficiency test. When the project manager appointed translators to carry out the actual translation project, “Good “Translator” will eventually be quickly accumulated and reused. What are the outstanding qualities of her/them that win the hearts of PM project managers?
Let’s not talk about “how good the translation is” here. Let’s simply take a look at the general view of daily translators from the PMs of front-line translators.
1. Professional and stable quality:
Ability to QA: Some translators will do a QA inspection themselves before delivery to reduce errors in the subsequent proofreading process and try to increase the quality score of the first translation version as much as possible; in contrast, some proofreading translators do not even have low errors in the translation. nothing.
Transparency: No matter what the considerations are, even if a good translator uses MT’s translation method on their own, they will do in-depth PE before delivering it to maintain their own translation standards. For PMs, no matter what method the translator uses to translate, whether it is done quickly or slowly, the one thing that cannot fluctuate is the quality of delivery.
Ability to look up words: We will search for cutting-edge terminology in the industry and translate it according to the customer’s exclusive TB glossary.
Ability to refer: Reference materials provided by customers will be referenced to stylistic styles as required, rather than translating according to their own ideas, and not mentioning a word to the PM when delivering.
2. Strong communication effectiveness:
Streamline translation requirements: Confirm the PM project manager’s order tasks first, and then start the translation after clarifying the translation requirements;
Clear annotations: If you have questions about the original text or are unsure about the translation, you will take the initiative to communicate directly with the PM, or communicate by adding clear and smooth annotations. The annotations will explain what the problem is and what the translator’s personal suggestions are, and the customer needs to confirm What is it, etc.;
“Objective” treatment of “subjective”: Try to be “objective” to the modification suggestions put forward by customers, and respond from the perspective of discussion. It is neither blindly denying any suggestions from customers, nor accepting them all without discrimination;
3. Strong time management ability
Timely response: Various instant messaging software have fragmented people’s time. PMs will not require translators to respond quickly within 5-10 minutes like serving customers, but what good translators usually do is:
1) In the signature area of the instant message or in the automatic reply of the email: Guanger informs you about the recent schedule, such as whether you can accept urgent manuscripts or whether you can accept large manuscripts. This requires the translator to make timely updates, with the words “Thank you for your hard work, happy PM” “Spirit of dedication;
2) Make an agreement with PM based on your daily schedule (domestic translators of nightingale and lark type, or overseas translators with jet lag) and preferred communication methods (such as instant messaging software/email/TMS system/telephone) Time periods for daily external communication and effective communication methods for different task types (receiving new tasks/translation modifications or problem discussions/translation delivery, etc.).
On-time delivery: Have a sense of time: if the delivery is expected to be late, proactively inform the PM as soon as possible how late it will be; will not “study” unless uncontrollable factors; will not adopt an “ostrich-style” response to avoid answering;
4. Strong learning ability
Learn new skills: As a professional translator, CAT, QA software, and AI translation technology are all powerful tools to improve work efficiency. The trend is unstoppable. Good translators will actively learn to improve their “irreplaceability”, focus on translation, but also multipotent;
Learn from customers: Translators can never understand their own industry and products better than customers. To serve a long-term customer, PM and translator need to learn and understand customers simultaneously;
Learn from peers or seniors: For example, the translators in the first translation session will take the initiative to ask the PM to review the version, study and discuss it.
A good translator not only needs to grow on his own, but also needs to be discovered by the professionals in the translation company. He will grow from youth to maturity in the process of working on the project, and from an ordinary entry-level translator to a reliable translator with high professional quality and solid and stable professional standards. The quality of these good translators is in line with TalkingChina’s values of “working professionally, being honest, solving problems, and creating value”, laying the foundation of “human resources guarantee” for TalkingChina WDTP’s quality assurance system.
Post time: Oct-19-2023