What Translation Project Managers Do
Note: This blog is being written while listening to the Oliver Nelson album “The Blues and the Abstract Truth.”
Sometimes when prospective new clients contact our company by telephone they ask the person they speak to over the phone “do you speak (fill in the blank) language?” At our company it’s usually someone performing the project manager function that speaks with callers. Project managers are not linguists typically and so the answer is no.
So if project managers are not translators, what role do they play? Listed below are some of the things translation clients can expect from project managers:
- Serve as the intermediary between translators and clients
- Coordinate the implementation of all project requirements to meet the client’s specification
- Help expedite the delivery of a client’s projects on occasions when time requirements are tight
- Answer any questions about the translation process that might be posed by the client
- Provide clarification on any post-translation project delivery questions
- Prepare and respond to client requests for quotes. The list goes on.
Translation companies don’t operate without project managers. Project managers do what needs to be done to ensure translation companies deliver what clients need. Of course they can’t do that without expert linguists. It takes more than a single skill set to run a translation business.
