I see it happening every time more often now... reputable translation outsourcers, experienced PMs get into a video translation project. It doesn't matter if they are frequent - both domestic and foreign - clients of mine, or if they post a job on Proz, one thing that becomes evident to me at first glance is that neither them not their end-client knows squat about video translation. The intent is clear, having the video made compatible with an audience using one or more languages different from ... See more I see it happening every time more often now... reputable translation outsourcers, experienced PMs get into a video translation project. It doesn't matter if they are frequent - both domestic and foreign - clients of mine, or if they post a job on Proz, one thing that becomes evident to me at first glance is that neither them not their end-client knows squat about video translation. The intent is clear, having the video made compatible with an audience using one or more languages different from the one in which it was produced. Suggesting them to read my Guide and other articles on my web site doesn't seem to help much.
The PM usually doesn't know the questions they should ask the end-client, so I offer them. The end-client doesn't know the answers, and often must make decisions without a clear idea on the options available.
Some common outcomes I've seen from such situations are:
- The end-client gives up, their video will be limited to polyglot audiences.
- The end client gives up on using the translation agency; hires a video production company, which has a hard time to find a suitable translator. Sometimes this leads to an endless (or at least costly and time-consuming) revision-by-client and rework process.
- The translation outsourcer throws the towel, and tells the end-client to contact a full-video-service translator like me, sometimes requiring a commission and a commitment to refuse doing other kinds of translation work for them, in other cases merely relinquishing that client.
- The PM handling it like any other translation project, though repeated rework might make it a costly and time-consuming option.
I've just completed a project classified in the last case above. Instead of the expected six weeks, it took six months. It cost about 3 times as much as it should. And why? Because after having seen it, I offered some suggestions for improvement/enhancement, which were welcomed by the end-client. Yet every time I delivered that, the end-client said, "Aha! So you guys can do this! In this case, I want that too!", and I was back to square two or three; not square one, but very close to it.
Of course, a translation agency lives on sparing the end-client from having to deal with a flock of vendors, answering all their questions. The agency just gets the entire job done via one single point of contact. Yet the problem here seems to be the agency PM not knowing the questions they should ask the end-client, what options they should offer, as well as the pros and cons of each one, to get a complete and detailed order that, if fulfilled to the dot, will result in delivering their client the best solution for their needs on the first try.
Just as a PM is not expected to translate, s/he is not expected to be able to subtitle/dub videos, nor to author DVDs. From my management training, "to manage is to achieve results from the work of other people". So I think translation PMs need to have a general view of the entire video translation, subtitling, dubbing, and DVD authoring process, what it involves, what are the options, and each one's pros and cons. A small sample of the kind of information I'm thinking of may be seen here.
Now I thought of setting up a video course here on Proz about video for translation agency PMs, and my intent on this thread is to get some input from them, if possible, as well as from fellow translators, in order to leave only a few stones unturned. In spite of being a full-video-service translation provider, I am limited to pairs covering only five languages (still having to outsource the translation itself in three of them), so too many projects cannot be simply dumped on me; they'll need a knowledgeable translation PM running the show. The goal of the course will be to make these PMs knowledgeable about video translation and the related post-translation services.
Thanks in advance for your input. ▲ Collapse
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