MANAGEMENT OF TRANSLATION AND LOCALIZATION PROJECTS - FROM CONCEPT TO MODEL

Abstract

The Internet expansion which has led to the development of the electronic market and to the ever-increasing cross borders communications has caused a remarkable impact in the translation industry, especially in what concerns the growing demand of website translations and, primarily, in the software localization.

In order to better understand this reality and to contribute to an enhancement of the systematization of the knowledge in this subject matter, this paper starts by providing a brief overview of the evolution of the concepts and of the translation and localization markets. As far as the market is concerned, it seeks to make a distinction between the several translation service providers, namely between companies and agencies, delineating as well the approach taken on the localization projects completion and recognizing the translation as an integral part of the localization process.

The translation project management process is described by analyzing concepts such as project and project management. Since the project manager is the key element of this process, the functions and competences, as well as the tasks and processes employed by this professional are described, bearing in mind the life cycle and the principles that comprises the project management process.

From this breakdown, a project management model of translation and localization is proposed based on the conjunction of divergent factors related not only to the project manager but also to the project management itself, all of which are mentioned throughout this paper. The suggested model tries to summarize the whole process concerning the translation/localization project management and results from two points of view that act together: one related to the analysis and reflection on the state-of-the-art and the other one resulting from the empirical analysis of the data collected on a daily basis in the authors’ work environment.

This model has the purpose, on the one hand, to illustrate the complexity of the project management process and also to demonstrate the relevance of the project manager functions in the translation wide universe and, on the other hand, it is intended to develop and to propose a project management model appropriated to translation and localization companies.