The basic process of the translation agency or translating seems very creative, but it requires compliance with very strict requirements. Within the company, we call these rules processes. To provide a general overview, we have described our basic process in stages below.
Management team in charge of strategic management determines the objectives and periodically inspects the performance thereof.
In customer service, customer managers carry out all project management and price proposal activities. Customer managers also set the objectives of specific clients or client groups and achieve these objectives.
For our purposes, the process of acquiring a translation job means activities carried out before accepting the job and placing an order, which include specifying and recording the client’s expectations and requirements associated with a specific job and entering into various agreements. At the end of the stage, both the client and we must have a common understanding of the objectives and timeline of a specific project.
In the stage of commissioning the job/translation, the translation coordinator reviews what has been agreed on once more and confirms persons connected to the translation stage and other intellectual and material resources. All other activities necessary to carry out the best possible translation are also performed in this stage if necessary. For example, the translation coordinator ensures the selection of the appropriate parts of the translation memory program, appropriate formalisation of the text, etc.
Translation takes place with consideration to the client’s wishes and internationally specified requirements. If necessary, the text is also professionally or technically edited, and this stage of course also includes reviewing, which in Estonia is more often called linguistic revision, and final verification.
All these stages are led by the translation coordinator who, in addition to monitoring and ensuring the performance, also specifies the occurrence of different stages. The translation coordinator also leads the inspection following the translation in order to make sure that all the client’s wishes are met.
Once the translation is ready for delivery, it is first sent to the client for review before the final design and printing stages. If these stages do not accompany a specific job or project, the client will give feedback to the translation in the completion stage, after which the translation is billed. However, the latter is purely an accounting process. During this or preceding processes, the next translation is usually already in progress for a loyal client or we will be waiting for the arrival thereof shortly after billing.
