Suiting up for a Large Volume
The Challenge
A high-volume text of approx. 32,000 source words was received from a prominent Nordic company operating in the food industry. The brief was to translate the company’s internal documentation/guidelines from Finnish into Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Russian. Due to time limitations, the client requested the translation only, and opted to carry out a final check within their company. Therefore, the goal was to provide the client with translations of the highest quality which, to the highest extent possible, did not require editing afterwards.
The Solution
In order to set the most feasible deadline, it was necessary to determine the level of complexity. The text was analysed using computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools (SDL TRADOS Studio 2011) to exclude repeated text and offer the best rate for the client. Numerous repetitions meant a discount could be offered, and RixTrans thus ensured that the client did not have to pay more than was reasonable. As soon as the deadline was set and the final confirmation received, the job could be started.
The project manager assigned the most skilled and industry-experienced translators to the task. All specialists were translating into their mother tongue; this meant an awareness and ability to use the subtle nuances as only native speakers can. In addition, they were all residents of the target country (i.e., Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia). All professionals had undergone the following selection procedures:
- University degree or equivalent in their specialist area;
- At least five years proven experience as a professional translator;
- At least two proven customer references;
- Their test translations were evaluated from 8-10, thus ensuring a high quality of translation;
- All translators had signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to ensure a strict confidentiality.
An appropriate translation tool (SDL TRADOS Studio 2011) was used to ensure a rigorous consistency of terminology and style. The final quality check was carried out by RixTrans' internal team to check and ensure that the translation was client-ready.
The Results
By negotiating with our customer, we found the most appropriate and least expensive solution. Each customer is different, and workflows that work for one are not always suited to another. By analysing the customer's needs, we came to the most suitable solution that saved time, costs and unnecessary workflow steps.
Industry: Food
Customer country: Finland
Language combination: FI - LV/LT/ET/RU
Word count: 32,000
Assigned linguists: 4 mother tongue linguists and 1 in-house
Tools: SDL TRADOS Studio 2011
Time: 12 days
Repetition discount: 25%
