Case Studies

Hollandbikeshop.com is a Dutch e-commerce company specializing in just about everything to do with cycling, from bicycles to bicycle parts, clothing, and accessories.

Project

Cycling e-commerce website translation from English into Czech
During their international expansion, Hollandbikeshop.com needed their online store translated from English into Czech, including all the navigational elements, category descriptions, automated emails, and their customer service page with frequently asked questions.

Challenges

High-volume jobs with a host of specific terms, products and brands paired with limited access to context called for a consistent and rigorous approach, especially when setting the deadlines, communicating, and resolving translation queries. Also, as with any online store translation into Czech, great care and linguistic creativity were needed when dealing with variables used in email salutations, category names or instead of number values. This project also required a thorough knowledge of specific bicycle terminology and deep understanding of how bikes work to correctly judge the purpose of the individual parts sold on the website, sometimes even without visual context.

Solutions

Drawing on my website localization experience and cycling industry knowledge as well as applying a diligent translation approach, I could ensure on-time delivery of large volume batches, be flexible when processing small ad-hoc translations, use consistent terminology and go the extra mile for a fine-tuned source text. Right at the start of the project, I introduced a query sheet where any source text ambiguity, lack of context or source errors could be reported, resolved, and fixed. Creating of a glossary of terms and brand names was necessary to ensure consistency throughout the various translation batches and to speed up the translation process. I also provided Hollandbikeshop.com with some workarounds and suggestions concerning the use of variables in Czech because they can lead to grammar errors and confuse the reader in Czech when not treated carefully.

Results

The convenient query sheet and streamlined communication helped speed up query resolutions, made source error reporting easier for me and allowed the client to tweak and polish source texts. This query sheet is also reusable in the future: it can save significant amounts of time on the client's side if translation into other languages is needed because it is highly probable that another translator will raise similar queries. Consistent terminology and use of brand names, together with the variable workarounds now make a good first impression on the reader.

Onway is a Finnish company providing customer, employee and network analytics for a wide variety of clients since 1997. They collect data, specific information and feedback to create valuable insights that allow businesses to better understand what customers, partners or employees want.

Project

High-level telephone interviews in Czech with purchasing managers with a wrap-up in Czech and English
Onway conducts an annual satisfaction survey for one of their clients using direct telephone interviews with chief buyers in various markets, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia. However, it proved challenging for Onway to get all the necessary information when the interviews were held in English. A decision was made to conduct the interviews on the Czech and Slovak market in local languages and then translate the output back into English to be incorporated into the final analysis for the client.

Challenges

The interviewer needed to be familiar not only with the questionnaire itself and the bigger picture of the analysis (in-depth questionnaire training was necessary), but also with client's industry and its particularities to be able to ask the relevant questions, make a professional impression and obtain the required information. Furthermore, the interviewer also needed to demonstrate flexibility in finding suitable time slots for the interviews because the respondents were higher-level managers with tied-up schedules.

Solutions

Drawing on my sales and marketing experience, translation expertise and cultural background I was able to offer Onway a tailored solution. As a Czech speaking interviewer proficient in English, I could conduct the interviews in Czech and wrap them up not only in Czech, but also in English. There was no need for another translator. In addition, I drew their attention to the fact that in business communication between a Czech and a Slovak both can speak in native language with no language barriers and without being considered impolite, meaning that I could conduct the interviews for both markets. I quickly managed to become familiar with Onway's questionnaire, needs, and their client's industry and provided them with the flexible schedule required for the interviews.

Results

My solution allowed Onway to focus on their work on the survey, managing only one person instead of a potential four people (two interviewers—Czech and Slovak—plus two translators into English), saving significant amounts of time and reducing the costs for this project to a minimum. I was also able to speed up the delivery of the English wrap-ups and ensure that they were fine-tuned with no important information missing (that could have gotten lost in translation by another person) because I could write them from scratch based on what I could remember from the interview and the notes I had taken.