Why Your Project Needs a Translation Dream Team

If you’re embarking on a new localization project, your first step should be to assemble a team of committed people. The collaboration of project managers, translators, proofreaders, and others is essential for producing great results.

Here’s what the makeup of a localization dream team might look like.

The Marketing Specialist

This team member’s job is to oversee digital marketing strategy by defining the company’s overall brand, voice, and international goals. This individual needs the finesse of a marketer combined with razor-sharp business savvy.

It’s the marketing specialist’s responsibility to:

• Oversee the company’s international branding as a whole.
• Make sure that everything intended for the targeted foreign market is ready to be released.
• Ensure that every translation captures the brand and authentic voice of the company.

The Localization Project Manager

This individual should be an expert in all aspects of the localization process, pay acute attention to detail, and possess sharp negotiation skills.

This person’s localization expertise should extend to:

• Defining metrics to manage and track linguistic quality.
• Setting delivery milestones for the localization project.
• Solving any problems that arise along the way.

The Localization Engineer

This team member should be adept at working with translation technology including translation memory, machine translation, and quality assurance (QA) tools. They should have a complete understanding of technology and process management can speed up translation workflows.

It’s their job to:

• Evaluate and choose the most appropriate localization tools for a particular localization project.
• Leverage previous translations if available.
• Decide on the best connectors/integrations for a particular localization project.

The Vendor Manager

This person needs to be a mastermind at data analysis and identifying areas for improvements and cost savings. They may have a role in finance or procurement and may not know a lot about localization.

They are good at:

• Appreciating the difference between necessary investment and wasted expenditures.
• Evaluating and choosing translation partners and LSPs for the company.
• Signing service level agreements that are favorable.

The Translator

This globe-trotting team member can translate your content, marketing offer, message, or brand and make it work in a different language. This individual should be a professional translator with proven qualifications and experience.

Their responsibility is to:

• Understand concepts and then translate them into context.
• Ensure that the translation will work for the intended market.
• Come up with changes to more accurately capture the brand and voice of the company.

The In-Country Reviewer (ICR)

An ICR adds a critical element to your localization project. Generally speaking, an ICR will be a native speaker of your target language and may also need to be a specialist in a given field. Although an ICR could be regarded as an additional step in the translation process, the value gained by utilizing one is immense. You can understand the value of an ICR by looking at companies that very clearly did not utilize one.

An ICR should:

• Ensure that your company is correctly represented locally in a foreign market.
• Check stylistic choices and phrasing to make sure the target language stays representative of your product or service.

Collaboration Is Key

Good collaboration is the backbone of every localization project. With that in mind, you should choose a high-quality translation management system (TMS) like Localize, so all participants in your localization project can work seamlessly together, no matter where they live in the world.

Localize is a low-code, ‘always-on’ TMS that helps hundreds of global brands manage their multilingual content. Our file-free translation workflow offers simplified version control and easy collaboration—cutting turnaround times by up to 66%.

Contact us today to find out how we can be a part of your localization dream team.