The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2021 - 30

increases stress and nerves

This is especially important if

can begin to fray.

one or more of the members

Many attendees at the

relatively new translator,

incompatibility as a reason

not well-informed with the

why they're lone wolves.

subject matter, etc.). One way

Getting along with some

is for the most experienced

individuals in a team setup

translator (possibly the

can prove quite challenging

team leader) to create a

and irksome, for example,

terminology database, for

if you're a planner working

example, listing source

alongside a colleague with a

and target terms in Excel

more relaxed approach. They

and asking everyone to

don't miss others' input

agree upon them in advance

because they enjoy being

of translating.

their own boss and prefer

Even if you don't like working with other
people, you can ultimately learn a lot from
working with someone whose approach and
skills differ from yours.

If the client hasn't given

decision-making. For others,

any specific instructions,

subcontracting is something

the team will either have to

they actively avoid because

decide which style manual

they're risk-averse and find
it hard to trust colleagues.

as a team, you'll need to
decide how to go about it

iron out the problems,

and put a system in place. A

leaving you with more than

good first step is selecting a

your fair share to do in the

team leader. The choice may

editing phase.

be obvious (i.e., the person

arise regarding workloads,
deadlines, payment terms,
rates, etc., just as they can
with agencies and other
clients. There can also be
communication issues.
When a project has been
divided among two or
more translators, it's often
because the deadline is tight
and the client can't wait for
it to be completed by just one
service provider. As time is of
the essence, communication
needs to be succinct and
only when strictly necessary.
But at the same time, the

30

When you work on a project

to translate but then not

Other disagreements can

The same is true for style.

to be in full control of all

Working as a Pack
speech recognition software

is not quite up to scratch (a

GTC session highlighted

who landed the client and
the job, or the translator
with the most knowledge of
the type of text involved).
You'll also need to decide

to follow or draw up their
own guidelines. When your
work is going to be revised,
if you have an issue with
a term or a style question,
you can highlight it or add
a comment so the reviser
knows you're unsure about
it. Again, it's best to agree in
advance, or let the reviser/
team leader decide, how to
go about indicating this type
of problem.
The GTC attendees were
divided about whether
the person(s) creating the

how to communicate with

glossary should be paid extra

each other. A constant

for this task. If they are

toing and froing of emails

remunerated, then you need

while the project is in

to decide whether they'll

progress is not helpful as

be paid per word, term, or

it interrupts everyone's

hour. This might depend

workflow. Instead, the team

on whether they negotiated

can schedule a meeting at

the job and, therefore, are

certain points throughout

already receiving extra for

the project to discuss any

admin, marketing, and

issues that arise. Or you can

coordination. Attendees

use Slack or another project

remarked that this mark-up

management tool.

can vary widely across the

The team also needs to

profession, as it depends

tone needs to stay friendly

agree on how to deal with

on the client, the size of the

and professional even when

terminology across the split-

job, and other factors, with

the approaching deadline

up parts of the translation.

agencies taking from an

The ATA Chronicle | May/June 2021

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The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2021

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