Success story
A German company:
precision, speed, success
Background
This international technology company was already carrying out a number of projects to automate logistics centres in Germany. Then it discovered that Mexico had put out an invitation to tender for the baggage transport logistics of one of its most high-traffic airports. It was the perfect opportunity to bring the automation technology it possessed and apply it in a new environment. The decision to submit an offer was made. There was just one problem: all of the tender’s technical specifications and conditions were in Spanish.
The challenge
First, the documents from Mexico had to be translated at lightning speed so that the client’s team could understand them and get to work on their offer. Then, without a moment to spare, the documents the German company would be submitting to the tender had to be translated into Spanish. Not only that, it was vital to make sure that everyone was aware of and respected all the legal aspects of the tender.
Where Tys's assets came in
250,000 words in 2 to 3 days. How did we do it?
First, we ordered the technical specifications and conditions by priority according to the sections that the company could start work on most immediately (for example, we left the legal sections for last). Both manual and machine translation were used and deliveries were staggered: as soon as one section was finished, it was sent to the client. In under three days the client had a rough first draft of the tender conditions to work on. The translation was far from perfect, but that was never the objective. It had to be fast and, of course, understandable. We would have the time to perfect it and apply more exact terminology at a later date with a second, more polished version.
Now what mattered was that the client could begin to draw up its offer in German. As parts were finished, they sent them to us to be translated. We were dealing with documents of a very technical nature, but with an important sales component as well. Being sure to meet these two needs was a key part of assigning the team in charge of the translation.
Unlike in the first stage (translation of technical specifications and conditions), this time quality was of vital importance. Deliveries were also staggered to allow us to go through the texts with a fine-toothed comb. We ruled out using machine translation, as it does not perform so well in combinations involving the German language. We relied instead on computer-assisted translation tools and manual translation, reserving machine translation for only very specific segments of the text and always under the supervision of the translation project’s manager.
The project manager coordinated the entire project, assigned tasks and distributed the work with the corresponding instructions and glossaries as guidelines. The team handling the translation included qualified professional translators and technical and language reviewers. A process of this type could involve as many as 15 people.
The result
The company won the bid; it was a victory we all felt we could share in. After the tender was awarded we stayed on with the project, translating all the machines’ technical manuals. Thanks to our team, which works like a well-oiled machine, our adaptability in the face of clients’ needs for quick-fire responses and our presence of mind to know that maximum quality is not always the objective, we are able to transform our work as translators into the embodiment of success, efficiency and assurance.
