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JUNE/JULY 2017 The Linguist 15
FEATURES
involvement in the EMT network gave us access to the
European Commission's machine translation (MT)
engine, MT@EC, which provided useful experience of
post-editing MT output.
QUESTIONS OF FINANCE
Another task, which brought its own set of challenges, was
overseeing the project's finances. We had to negotiate
rates with translators, which occasionally involved long
email exchanges before an agreement could be reached,
and make a profit of 30-40% – although the financial
element was the only part of the project that wasn't real.
Thankfully, my colleagues' excellent Excel skills and
previous experience made this part of the project much
easier. Similarly, we could use CAT tools to get accurate
statistics on word counts and matches from translation
memories. Using this knowledge, careful planning and
negotiation skills, we managed to make a profit of 51%.
I found the financial dimension useful when I worked
as a translator during our other two translation projects.
Should I decide to work freelance in future, I now
have my own quotes and invoices, which would only
need minimal editing before I could use them in a
professional context.
In some ways, I was glad to return to the role of
translator for our third team project. I enjoyed translating
webpages for a Spanish NGO and had more time to
explore advanced features in another CAT tool –
memoQ – for this final project. But my experience as a
We had to
negotiate
rates with
translators,
which
involved
some long
email
exchanges,
and make
a profit
of 30-40%
project manager meant that I did this with a much better
understanding of where my role fitted into the wider
project workflow.
Our work as translators is only one part of a larger
process in which the work of revisers and project
managers depends on our translations being delivered
on time. I was also aware of some of the pressures my
project manager could be facing, and I knew that
returning my translation even a couple of hours before
the deadline might alleviate some of those pressures.
Collaboration was at the heart of this project. As
project manager, I was working with an excellent team
of translators who, by replying to my emails promptly,
completing their translations to a high standard and
returning all of their files ahead of schedule, made my
work much easier. They also taught me lots about the
technology we were using.
Our work with translation students in France brought
additional challenges but also made the project more
rewarding and enjoyable. Being part of such a cohesive
and supportive group of project managers, working
together to solve problems, and collaborating with an
excellent team of translators were definitely the highlights
for me.
Notes
1 See https://ec.europa.eu/info/education/european-
masters-translation-emt/european-masters-translation
-emt-explained_en
IMAGES
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