In our constant struggle to meet and exceed all of our clients’ expectations on an international scale, TradOnline offers tailor made interpretation services. We offer consecutive, liaison and simultaneous interpretation, and we’ll work with you to find the best solution to meet your needs. We’ll take a look back at a recent interpretation mission we carried out that had a bit of a particular twist to it: training workshops.
Description of client’s needs:
Our client had implemented a new piece of software within their company and the new features this tool allowed had to be presented to the company’s employees. As each department had different uses for the software, the groups were formed based on the users’ needs. Meanwhile, the presentations were to be carried out by two different trainers, an Indian and a Brit. Thus, the client required English to French (and inversely) interpretation services during the workshops.
The project was carried out through 3 separate missions, each lasting 3-4 weeks, from January to September. Each week saw 3 days of training sessions at 2 hours per day and carried out on 3 separate sites.
How did TradOnline manage this request?
To handle this demand, TradOnline started by assigning a dedicated project manager for this very particular interpretation mission which covered three cities over the course of many long months. Given the type of mission, that is to say on-site training, the project manager and client agreed to opt for consecutive interpretation (to learn more about the different kinds of interpretation we offer, head over to this page).
What’s more, in order to respond to the requirements of this rather technical mission, our project manager suggested an interpreter who is specialized in computer sciences and with experience in this type of mission (internal training on client premises) who would be available for the entirety of the mission to ensure consistency between training sessions and enabling the interpreter to gain a better mastery of the subject over time.
Challenges presented by the project:
It was a fairly ambitious project and thus presented quite a consequential budget; so it was necessary to optimize the costs as much as possible. It was also necessary to find an interpreter who would agree to work alone (generally for more than an hour or two of consecutive work, interpreter will work in pairs), who was able to be available for three to four weeks at a time, and who would, ideally, be available for all 3 missions. From among our base of interpreters at TradOnline, we were able to find the perfect person, who was also, happily, available! However, humans are not infallible, and one of the major risks faced during the project was that the interpreter would come down sick during a training mission, or just before, and be unable to complete the mission. Luckily however, this never became an issue. If it had manifested, we would have been ready to replace the interpreter, but not without a heavy financial cost for TradOnline, as is the case for any kind of urgent demand.
The TradOnline plus:
Thanks to the privileged relationships we’ve built with our translators and interpreters, we were able to negotiate a preferential rate for our interpreter in order to meet the client’s budgetary requirements. The Project Manager also helped to put the interpreter at ease by the professional and structured organization of the project.
The choice of which interpreter to use for this type of mission is crucial. TradOnline was able to select the best person for the job: someone who was competent, able to easily integrate with the teams, and quickly master the content of the training sessions.
Of course, our dedicated project manager also demonstrated themselves to be very organized and professional, between reserving the hotel for each site, planning the translation sessions upstream with the client, and of course remaining available for both the client and the interpreter.
Our advice at TradOnline for this type of request:
Everything essentially relies on the choice of interpreter and project manager:
- The interpreter because they are the face of the translation agency for the client;
- The Project Manager because they need to be diligent and meticulous. They must understand the challenges and keys to success for the mission, as well as take into account the budget and realize the impact it has on and what it represents to the client.
Keywords for this project: adaptability and organization.
In conclusion, our client was very satisfied, as much with the management of the project as the quality of the interpretation provided. In fact, the whole staff rather enjoyed the training and the chance to exchange with the Indian trainers and the interpreter.