Jo Drugan

1. Background 2004 represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of language services in the institutions of the European Union. First, the simultaneous accession of ten new member states and their corresponding languages has meant a huge increase in translation workload and potential language pairs literally overnight. Second, and of particular interest to anyone working with electronic translation tools, the more efficient integration of a range of translation software and tools to manage multilingual projects is now under discussion at inter-institutional level, via the newly-created working group on tools and workflow. In its quest to identify the most efficient working methods and appropriate integration of translation tools, the group can draw on nearly a decade's use by EU translators of the Trados Translator's Workbench (TWB) translation memory (TM) tool, which has increasingly been used in conjunction with a package of other translation support tools including machin...

In the year when ten new accession countries have joined the European Union, the institutions are jointly reviewing effective multilingual document management strategies and workflow. The integration of a range of translation software and tools is also under discussion, not least because a new Call for Tenders for the supply of a translation memory tool for all EU institutions is in process.

What problems relating to data management, integration of translation technology and workflow have been identified by one of the world’s largest suppliers of multilingual translation? What solutions have been suggested and finally selected, and what was the rationale behind such decisions? How successfully have such solutions been implemented within and across the EU institutions? And what new challenges are anticipated by those managing workflow in the EU?

This paper will address these questions by presenting original findings from a recent six-week research placement during which the author was based in the English Unit of the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission, with additional access to translation tools specialists, members of the committee on translation workflow, translators from both pre- and post-accession member states, Heads of Units and indeed other institutions, including the Parliament, Court of Auditors and Translation Centre, both in Luxembourg and Brussels. Research took the form of tailored interviews, work shadowing, performing translation tasks using in-house tools and observing training in translation tools. Issues relating to translation workflow and data management were thus investigated across different languages and institutions, resulting in a comprehensive, up-to-date and comparative overview of effective translation management strategies within an expanding multilingual non-profit organisation.

Research findings will be of interest to a wide audience including translators, managers, trainers and academic researchers. The effect of latest developments in translation software and user aspects of translation software will be examined via a practical problem-solving approach.

The diverse approaches to translation quality in the industry can be grouped in two broad camps: top-down and bottom-up. The author has recently published a decade-long study of the language services (Quality in Professional Translation, Bloomsbury, 2013). Research for the study covered translation providers from individual freelance translators working at home, to largescale institutions including the European Union Directorate-General for Translation, commercial translation companies and divisions, and not-for-profit translation groups. Within the two broad ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ camps, a range of further sub-models was identified and catalogued (e.g. ‘minimalist’ or ‘experience-dependent’). The shared distinctive features of each sub-group were described, with a particular focus on their use of technologies.
These different approaches have significant implications for, first, the integration of industry standards on quality, and, second, the efficient harnessing of technology throughout the translation workflow.
This contribution explains the range of industry approaches to translation quality then asks how these map on to successful integration of standards, and features of the leading tools which are designed to support or enhance quality. Are standards and technologies inevitably experienced as an imposition by translators and others involved in the translation process? Significantly, no straightforward link was found between a ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ approach to assessing or improving translation quality and effective use of tools or standards. Instead, positive practice was identified across a range of approaches.
The discussion outlines some painless ways these developments are being channelled to improve quality, or more frequently, to maintain it while meeting tighter deadlines. Some models existed beyond, or were partially integrated in, ‘professional’ translation (e.g. pro bono translators, and volunteer Open Source localizers).