Translation Project Problems and Solutions

Sometimes unexpected things come up in translation projects. Today it was a formatting issue.

A large MS Word source file (500+ pages) in English was not professionally formatted by the client. The document was visually okay, but there were underlying issues.

The problems were not discovered until the translated text was placed back in the original formatted structure. Automated numbering was significantly altered. Sections and paragraph numbers did not correlate with the source version document.

An internal discussion identified several possible solutions to adequately fix the problem and allow the target translation file to be useful to the client. Usually when an unexpected issues comes up it’s helpful to get input from several team members. An unsolvable problem from the perspective of one person is entirely manageable from the perspective of another.

We’ve learned to be skeptical when a problem is identified and immediately deemed to represent an impasse to a successful project completion. Sometimes solutions aren’t perfect, but 2 or 3 possible courses of action can be listed with one being eventually selected.