My good friend Ana has taken up her first job in the translation industry. I asked how she was doing and her response stunned me:
– Girl, they are my babies. I am their sitter.
I beg your paaardon? I did not quite get it. Did she mean under-aged translators? Is that even legal? Those must be some smart children, though…
– Yes, hun, translators are my babies. I have to keep an eye on them all day, make sure they do their homework, ‘cause if they don’t, then there are no sweet treats for them!
Oh, dear. That is what she meant. [Sigh of relieve]
The metaphor does work. Ana’s charming description is the most hilarious one I have ever heard. As a project manager who has just landed in the translation and localization galaxy, she perceives herself as the loving nanny of the translators in the team:
– Chica, I have to go one by one asking if they take the project or not, making sure they get it done on time… You have no idea!
She said that wide-eyed. I had to laugh. Indeed, amiga, that is what a Translation Project Manager does!
Confirming our baby-translators’ availability, making sure they understand instructions well, assuring that homework-files are not dog-bitten/corrupt, and picking up the linguistic breadcrumbs they might have dropped along the L10n journey against the suffocating-deadline enchanted woods are only a few of many tasks assumed by Project Managers daily. Exhausting, huh?
🌈All in all, Ana’s job as a PM was perfect, and she found her happily ever aft…⚠️ STOP there, narrator! In our fairy tale, all that glitters is not gold…
– Nena, some of them start tantrums if you change their status from translator to editor because they didn’t answer in time! Even worse, yesterday one of them left me “on read”. I am heartbroken… 💔
Oh. My.
Dear fellow translators, if you are reading this, please respond to my PM aka translator-sitter friend! Her love and yummy translation projects are at stake! 🍦💻
Dedicated to all the translation project managers in the world who handle their daily work with care and affection, being the kind person behind the screen, to their precious baby-translators and to my dear friend Ana. Welcome to the translation galaxy!
Luz M. Sanchis
China-based baby-translator & interpreter
Illustration by Spanish artist Blanca Santamaría