Agile translation: how we manage 175+ new translation orders a day for a single client

Today, I’m going to show you how a busy localisation agency like ours took a leap into the agile reality of continuous translation.

Now we carry out up to 7 new projects, 25 languages each, everyday. And all this just for one client!

We have achieved this turnaround thanks to small (yet powerful) changes in the communication with our client – Ten Square Games – and our linguists.

Ten Square Games is a game developer with 10 years of experience. Their games are being enjoyed by 44 million active players from all over the world. Their gamedev teams use the agile methodology to develop their products.

With every completed sprint, the existing games are updated with new strings. These, in turn, have to be consistent with the previously created and localised content – across 25 languages!

Ten Square Games looked for a partner able to keep up with their pace and agility, and to ensure the linguistic consistency of all games.

locatheart took up the challenge and the hard work began.

LAH and TSG teams knew that effective communication and simplicity were the key to their success. Both teams sat down to draft a plan together.

Email communication tends to get messy, right?

That’s why we decided to use Jira and Slack instead. We use Jira as a project management tool, and Slack as the main channel of communication between TSG and the LAH project management team.

Given the number of assignments and languages, we face a constant inflow of questions. We decided to cut out the middleman and let the linguists address their questions directly to TSG.
Challenges?

• The process must remain organised and under control.
• Both questions and answers must be available to all linguists involved.

Solution?
We decided to use online sheets and it works!

To tackle it, we decided that we need pre-approved price lists. So we prepared and approved them. Now we can use them for most translation orders without having to wait for a green light to undertake particular tasks.

Approved linguists can also proceed with translation as soon as they receive relevant files via email. Purchase orders are issued afterwards – in bulk. This allows us to delegate a translation task to a linguist in another time zone in the afternoon and expect to see the translation ready the next morning. No waiting for approvals means no waste of time.

Quality is always a challenge when it comes to hectic linguistic projects so we made sure to have it under control from the very start.

One way of minimising the risk of error is to work with a regular team of proven translators and reviewers. Working with linguists who know the project inside out radically improves the overall quality and consistency.

Still, a number of measures – like using glossaries and translation memories and running tests – must be taken to ensure localisation consistency across all translations.

Agility means openness to change. With such a dynamic process, many issues have to be solved along the way. New optimisation ideas emerge.

Both teams meet every month to discuss progress, challenges ahead and new workflow solutions.

With all these measures in place, we can now take pride is the following results:

Usually, in the course of a single day, locatheart receives 7 orders for localisation into 25 languages, with a 2–3 workday deadline. And new orders follow the next day. Yet, despite the dynamics and turnaround, we can work smoothly thanks to our workflow.

If you are struggling with a similar challenge, know this: our team will adjust to your pace and methodology. Get in touch!

Feel free to download and share this LAH Games case study: