This post is part of the Five Phases of the Translation Workflow series.
The translation workflow has five distinct phases:
This post covers the workflow for receiving files from your LSP.
Once your translations are finished, the workflow for their return is another area that needs to be clearly spelled out. This phase is similar to Phase 2: Content Going To Translation, except in reverse. One thing that can complicate this stage is the number of files that you now have to account for. For each file that you sent to translation, you will have that number multiplied by the number of languages being returned.
It’s best to be prepared for all of the translated files – you’ll be dealing with a lot of them.
Here are questions to consider:
- Are all of the languages returned at the same time? If not, who is responsible for tracking each language?
- What is the process for returning the translations?
- What format are the translations in when they are returned?
- Who are the translations delivered to?
- Who does the desktop publishing (if needed)?
- Is there a special file naming scheme used for the translated files?
- Is there additional information about each file returned at the same time? What type of information? In what format?
I have seen companies that pay little attention to the process of receiving translations from their LSP. When they aren’t looking, havoc ensues. They lose track of which languages were do to who and when. They end up with version control issues. They don’t have the answers when their product managers ask questions about time to market. It is a problem. You need to pay as much attention to the files as they return as you did when you first sent them. In fact, maybe more.
The next post, our final in the series, is about the workflow after the files have been returned by your LSP.
- This post is part of the “Five Phases of Translation Workflow” series. You can download the free ebook all about the translation workflow here or check out the links to the entire series of blog posts below.
For more information about global content strategy, see my book Global Content Strategy: A Primer, available in a bundle of eBook formats (PDF, Kindle, ePub) from XML Press and in print or Kindle from Amazon.
Val is on the Advisory Board for the Technical Communications Program at the University of North Texas. When not working with customers or students, Val can be found sitting behind her sewing machine working on her latest quilt. She also makes a mean hummus.
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