Automobile Case Study

 Summary

We received a translation order from a luxury German automaker for a service manual and owner's manual. The main issues were the German language, specialist knowledge and the need for high quality. We carried out research and analysis to create an appropriate organization for the project and resolve the issues in advance.

 Challenges

• Direct translation from German to Japanese
• Knowledge across diverse fields
• Quality appropriate for a luxury vehicle
• Use of a translation support tool that is not often used in Japan
• Rapid response to frequent orders

 Solutions

• TOIN assigned a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to the team
• We appointed multiple translation quality managers
• We trained translators in advance
• We instituted cooperation between the TOIN Europe office and the Japan Head Office

 Conclusion

• Client was not aware of any time-zone differences
• We constructed a similar system for other languages
• We gained experience in German translation
• We gained experience and knowledge in the automobile field

 Case Study

At a trade exhibition in Europe, a German automaker approached TOIN and asked if we would be interested in a Japanese-language project. The client saw Japan as a priority market for the future and planned not only scheduled model changes but also launches of many new models there.

The automaker's local office and sales representative are in charge of selling their vehicles in Japan and translations were usually arranged through the sales representative. However, for their new strategy the client was looking for a level of service that could not be provided by the usual translation agency.

Many documents need to be translated in the automobile industry, from the initial production process to the final owner's manual. The client wanted TOIN to produce the service manual and owner's manual.

Information and knowledge in numerous automobile fields are required for a service manual. Naturally, these fields include mechanical engineering, engines, electronics and wiring, as well as air conditioning, paneling and painting. In recent years, familiarity with car navigation systems and automobile computers has also become essential.

Although such background knowledge is typically required when translating owner's manuals, the most important requirement in this case was to make every single sentence project to the owner the high quality and luxury that is synonymous with this automaker's brand.

Taking into account the customer's request for a fast market launch, we decided to translate the German-language source document directly into Japanese rather than into English and then into Japanese.

Another difficulty was the translation support tool that the client was using in its translation process: it was a rare type that was hardly used at all in Japan. We could not find any German translators who were experienced in using it.

Not only that, but in order to provide a rapid service we needed to be able to deal with as many as 150 to 200 projects every month. As things stood, we could only satisfy about 60 percent of the client's translation needs.

To enhance our responsiveness, first we built a special organization for the project.

Since we needed translations to be performed with a high level of expertise across diverse fields, we assigned SMEs to the project. One SME had experience in editing specialist automobile magazines, while the other had studied automotive engineering and had experience working at an automaker. In addition, a third member, a translation quality manager, was added to the project team to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the documents submitted by the translators and the checks carried out by the SMEs, and to build up TOIN's translation expertise.

We held repeated training courses in advance to teach the translators how to use the translation support tool, with our in-house technical support team giving advice as required. As such, we developed our knowledge and experience and started the project having already performed the required verifications.

We linked the TOIN office in Europe with the Project Manager in Japan, building an organization that responded so rapidly to order placements that the client was not aware of any time-zone differences.

In conclusion, we were successful in analyzing the client's request in advance and building an organization centered on the Project Manager that was able to respond to the different challenges that we faced. Our success went beyond the expectations of our client, who later decided to hire us for German-to-Korean and German-to-Chinese translations.