Translators for NGOs Attila Piróth The Solidarités team of ProZ.com ProZ.com Regional Conference Aix-en-Provence, November 2007

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs2 Outline ► Motivation ► Workflow ► Pilot Projects ► ProZ.com’s Infrastructure ► Future Plans ► Questions and Answers

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs3 Motivation Newbies: How to get first references? Advice: Through free work for NGOs ► Using the job as reference, portfolio material ► Free: Little competition with established TRs ► NGOs: Free work for them is justifiable to future clients

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs4 Motivation What would be the best framework? ► Working in a team networking is attractive for established translators ► Working with experienced colleagues much like ProZ.com’s mentoring program ► Getting feedback without conflict of interest between TR and ED ► Learning new skills ► Having comfortable deadlines

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs5 Motivation Few paid jobs meet these criteria ► About 200,000 registered ProZians ► Some voluntary work for networking localization of ProZ.com, T4Kids ► Hundreds of thousands of hours of work... If this approach can be made attractive

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs6 Workflow ► Preparation of the material ► Translation + glossary building ► Editing ► Glossary unification ► Updating translation ► Proof-reading ► After delivery

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs7 Workflow 1.Preparation of the material (esp. if team is large) ► Selecting glossary entries in source doc possibly using term extraction tool ► Should be done before distributing the doc ► Requires (2 or more) terminology managers

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs8 Workflow 2.Translation + glossary building ► Done by translators getting established ► Encouraged to use CAT tools ► Close one-on-one cooperation with editor ► Forum discussion with other team members

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs9 Workflow 3.Editing ► Done by experienced translators ATA exam correctors? ► Detailed feedback to translator like in mentoring program ► Getting to know the work of several TRs facilitating future cooperation facilitating future cooperation

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs10 Workflow 4.Glossary unification ► Published glossary good reference ► Networking among contributors ► A lot of communication is needed - TM: communication and organizational skills - ProZ.com’s infrastructure (forums, KudoZ) ► Schedule

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs11 Workflow 5.Updating translation ► Done by each translator ► Absolutely necessary to ensure consistent terminology ► Some participants might ignore it TR’s work is not finished when sending TR to ED ► Schedule

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs12 Workflow 6.Proof-reading ► Necessary to ensure consistent style ► Stylistic, formatting, etc. questions discussed during translation - PR: communication and organizational skills - ProZ.com’s infrastructure (forums, KudoZ) ► Schedule

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs13 Workflow 7.After delivery ► Publishing glossary ► Feedback to participants, references - ProZ.com’s infrastructure: WWA, project history - PM: availability - Reference on NGO’s website, etc. ► Preparing translation memory from final files

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs14 Workflow Complex workflow ► Assures high quality ► Participants can learn ► Requires a lot of communication ► Makes use of ProZ.com’s infrastructure ► Can be realized in a pro bono project (only)

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs15 Pilot Projects For Solidarités ( ► 3 projects, altogether 100,000 words ► 2 Fr-En, 1 En-Fr ► About 50 participants ► 2 glossaries, over 400 entries each (See details in my profile)

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs16 Pilot Projects En-Fr project: USAID guidelines for applicants ► Can be used by other NGOs ► Almost 150 pages (~45,000 words) ► Could not have been translated otherwise (Solidarités: 89,5% of budget used directly in missions)

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs17 ProZ.com’s Infrastructure ► Forums, private forums subforums in private forums ► KudoZ, private KudoZ ► Recruitment via job posting 100 BrowniZ for applying ► Feedback through WWA and project history ► Distributing information newsletter, forums

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs18 Future Plans Aim: offering linguistic aid to other NGOs AND help TRs to build their carrier ► Possibility for participants to try all phases TR, ED, TM, PR, PM – ready to launch your own agency ► Pilot projects in multiple languages possibly with EN as leading language ► Creating participants’ database much like ProZ.com’s directory

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs19 Future Plans ► Creating own site ( ► Setting up dedicated teams for specific NGOs by PMs; top-down approach ► Establishing priorities for providing aid T4NGOs focuses on small humanitarian NGOs ► Improving and publishing best practices ► Working in close collaboration with ProZ.com’s mentoring program

November 02, 2007Attila Piróth – Translators for NGOs20 QuestionsandAnswers