☕ Behind the Scenes of a Translation Project
Or: Why Your Translator Is Still in Pyjamas at 3pm
Let’s be honest: when you imagine your translation being done, you probably picture a serious person in a silent office, diligently transferring words from Language A to Language B in a state of caffeinated serenity.
Well… you’re not entirely wrong – but you’re also not entirely right.
Let us take you behind the scenes of what really happens when you send a file to a professional translator.
Step 1: Coffee. Lots of it.
The translator receives your file at 9:00 AM. By 9:03, they’re already on their second espresso.
And no, it’s not a fancy agency cappuccino. It’s industrial strength, borderline intravenous.
Why? Because your file is a 47-page technical manual about solar panel converters, and the cat just sat on the keyboard.
Step 2: Reading, research, repeat
Before a single word is translated, a surprising amount of work happens:
- Reading the full document (yes, all of it)
- Identifying key terms
- Checking client reference materials (if any)
- Googling three-letter abbreviations that could mean either “temperature index” or “totally irrelevant nonsense”
Step 3: Glossary-building: the underpaid art form
Creating a terminology glossary is like assembling IKEA furniture with no instructions.
Painful, slow, but utterly necessary.
Without it, you end up calling the same component five different things in five places – a crime against linguistic harmony.
And that’s where CAT tools come in: no, not feline assistants (though one is likely curled up on the translator’s lap), but Computer-Assisted Translation software. These powerful tools ensure consistency and help manage complex, repetitive content – like safety instructions, contracts, or government forms that use the word “hereby” 87 times.
Step 4: Translation (finally!)
Now comes the part you’re paying for – the actual translation.
But here’s the catch: this is often the shortest phase in the whole process.
That’s right. Preparing the project and reviewing it afterwards takes longer than the “translation” itself.
Step 5: Human QA + machine QA = double sanity check
Once the text is translated, it’s reviewed again. By the translator. Then by another human if it’s a B2B project.
And then – the machines join in: Quality Assurance tools scan for typos, missing numbers, and that one rogue sentence the translator missed while chasing the cat off the desk.
Step 6: Delivery & disbelief
The file is delivered. It’s consistent, correct, and culturally adapted.
The client reads it and says:
“Wow, this took three days? Why so long?”
“And why does it cost more than Google Translate?”
Dear reader, now you know.