During our daily work, every project manager will encounter different kinds of projects every day. Some of them maybe intractable, and we may feel annoying and troublesome when difficult to handle. However after we figure out all the problems, and deliver the files of good quality, by then we can summarize the experience, and found there are so many things can be learned from each project, and also the similar projects can be easily solved in future. Take some cases I did in this month for example.
I. English to Vietnamese subtitle translation project, which is not just simply translate each sentence but has strictly character counts demand. At beginning, we did the translation in DOC file, it is really hard to calculate the character counts. Then we revised for a lot of time, but still could not satisfy the client. Finally, we found a method, to copy the translation to EXCEL, made the character limited setup, then the character count can be easily noted. Once insert one word, the column will reflect accordingly, which made the client satisfied at last, and with that we gained several following up projects.
II. Engineering brochure English to Simplified Chinese translation. We delivered the translation on time, then received the feedback from client, he did some modifications for the first paragraphs, we need to revise the file as per his modification. After studied the revision carefully, we found most of them were just changed to Traditional Chinese saying, however what we requested was Simplified Chinese translation. Although our previous translation was no problem, still we revised the file and deliver again, solved the problem successfully.
III. Political article German to Chinese translation. The source if of highly difficulty, and the author request extremely high quality. To guarantee a good quality, we had three linguists who cooperated with us for years did a sample test, then the author chose the most qualified one to handle the translation after comparing. Although we did every step as per author’s demand, still the translation has not reached his expectation in beginning, then we picked the linguist who owns the political background to do the proofreading for several times, consult with the author, Finally reached an agreement.
As a PM, except handle all kinds of projects well, coordinate with colleagues of other department, meet all kinds of demand of the clients. We should also ensure the quality of every project. Checking the translation carefully: is the format adjusted well as per source file; is there any sentence missed translation, is there any wrong spelling; go through the whole translation to see if it is readable before submit, By doing this, we can not only strengthen our own ability, but also can serve our client better, As long as we can insist all the steps, I believe it is necessary to build a long term relationship with every client.