Got a checklist of things to do before delivering doc. is to customer? Thread poster: krishna mallick
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After the translation, I have to re-check. Hence, I need a check list before the doc. is delivered to customer. Pls let me know what are the things I need to do a final check on and any more suggestions related to these will be happily accepted.
| | | | Bob Kerns (X) 
Germany
Local time: 10:35
German to English
| Make a checklist BEFORE you start translating | Aug 1, 2002 |
If you wait until after the translation before going through a checklist, you risk forgetting several things and may even lose your work in the case of a system crash.
My standard checklist, which I print out BEFORE even starting a job, includes the following:
1. A virus check of the file(s) received from the customer
2. A reminder to create a time schedule for jobs lasting more than a few days. Without this you can find yourself with lots of p... See more If you wait until after the translation before going through a checklist, you risk forgetting several things and may even lose your work in the case of a system crash.
My standard checklist, which I print out BEFORE even starting a job, includes the following:
1. A virus check of the file(s) received from the customer
2. A reminder to create a time schedule for jobs lasting more than a few days. Without this you can find yourself with lots of pages still to translate on the day when the job is due for delivery.
3. A reminder to backup the original file(s) to a ZIP disk or a CD. There\'s nothing worse than having overwritten the original with your translation and then not knowing what the text was in the original.
4. A reminder to backup the translation at the end of each working day.
5. A reminder to perform a spellcheck and a search for error messages generated by Word in the text (unresolved cross-references etc.) before printing the file(s) for proofreading.
6. A reminder to actually perform the proofreading on a printed version rather than relying on your computer\'s spellchecker (often uncovers a lot of mistakes).
7. A reminder to perform a virus check of the translated file(s) before delivering them.
8. A reminder to note the time and date of the delivery to the customer and/or to send them a fax so that they know that the translation has been sent. Deliveries by mail occasionally go astray so if the customer gets a fax and then no mail he can ask you to send it again.
9. A reminder to send the bill 
These may all sound like logical steps which nobody could possibly forget but when you\'re under time pressure it\'s easy to forget lots of things which are not specifically included in a checklist.
Hope this helps. Regards from Germany. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Some additions to the check list | Aug 1, 2002 |
1. When you have checked all the points beautifully summed up above by colleague Kerns, it\'s time to make a look-through check before mailing the file to the customer.
2. Check whether all the chapters/paragraphs in the document are there and are translated. Sometimes when there are many pages, you can hop over a passage. This can be dome when activating a target language spell-checker. All the untranslated passages will be underlined with red wavy line!
... See more 1. When you have checked all the points beautifully summed up above by colleague Kerns, it\'s time to make a look-through check before mailing the file to the customer.
2. Check whether all the chapters/paragraphs in the document are there and are translated. Sometimes when there are many pages, you can hop over a passage. This can be dome when activating a target language spell-checker. All the untranslated passages will be underlined with red wavy line!
3. Check whether the format of the file is as required. If it is some \"unusual\" format like QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw etc., check whether the version you are sending in is as required. We have had problems with customers only having lower versions that could not open the delivered files! In this connection - add to the brilliant \"Kerns file\" the requirement to remember to agree upon the format and version the file is to be delivered in! Remember as well that some extensions in Quark can give problems, therefore switch off for them if the customer did not specially asked you to use them!
4. Check up the fonts used and the typographies/styles! Now more and more customers define the styles in their documents, especially manuals, presentations etc., and it is very important to preserve the original look!
5. Immediately afterwards check up whether you have updated the Contents and whether it looks precisely as in the original file (if you have changed some heading styles, it results in a mess in the Contents!)
6. If there have been any hyperlinks in the text, check them all whether they are active!
7. Check the layout: whether headers and footers are translated and sit in the right sections of the document; whether columns are as they shall be; and certainly, when making the intervals between the words only the tabulation method may be used (No space bar use here!); bullets; numbering; tables... Name it.
8. Remember to delete any notes you might have made in the file for your own use!
9. If you have had Trace changes function on, make sure you accept the changes - or switch off Highlight changes on screen and in print in Highlight Changes!
And in the very end - remember to make your own copy of the file and put it into the customer\'s dossier! Sometime the customer can return with updating of the same file or a new file based on the same terminology... And sometimes the customer loses his file and turns to you as his last and only hope!..
Certainly there are many more things, but these are quite on the surface.
Best luck
Squi ▲ Collapse
| | | | Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 04:35
Member (2000)
French to English
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MODERATOR | Thanks for all of us... | Aug 1, 2002 |
Robert Kerns and Squi have given us a very fine and comprehensive list of \"to-dos.\" I\'m glad the question was askedc, and thankful for the very excellent answers. I\'ve copied and filed these answers, for future reference.
Yolanda Broad
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| folders and spaces | Aug 1, 2002 |
To add to these great lists:
- When you first receive the project files, create any folders you will need (for example, I open a folder for every project, and within it other folders named Project xxx-Original, Project xxx-Bilingual, Project xxx-Clean Files, Project xxx, Final; you can adapt this to the way you work). I do this in Windows Explorer and sometimes in Outlook Express too, to manage files I receive from other translators (These folders are then called Project xxx... See more To add to these great lists:
- When you first receive the project files, create any folders you will need (for example, I open a folder for every project, and within it other folders named Project xxx-Original, Project xxx-Bilingual, Project xxx-Clean Files, Project xxx, Final; you can adapt this to the way you work). I do this in Windows Explorer and sometimes in Outlook Express too, to manage files I receive from other translators (These folders are then called Project xxx - Xlated by xxx-Edited by xxx, or some similar system).
- A pet hate of mine: double spaces! After the spellcheck, I always do a search and replace and replace any double spaces between words for a single space.
Andrea ▲ Collapse
| | | | krishna mallick
India
Local time: 14:05
Japanese to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Quote:
1. A virus check of the file(s) received from the customer
7. A reminder to perform a virus check of the translated file(s) before delivering them.
Hope this helps. Regards from Germany.
this really helps. and thanks a ton. Pls tell me how to do 1. and 7.
| | | | krishna mallick
India
Local time: 14:05
Japanese to English
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TOPIC STARTER | thanks everybody | Aug 2, 2002 |
great information and explanation which will be useful to everybody coming to this page.
| | | | Bob Kerns (X)
Germany
Local time: 10:35
German to English
| How to check files for viruses | Aug 2, 2002 |
Hi Aikokujin or \"Tiger\",
You asked how to check files for viruses so obviously you don\'t yet have an anti-virus program. You must buy an anti-virus program. There are lots of them on the market and I don\'t want to recommend any particular one. The important thing is that the supplier of the program offers regular updates of the so-called virus signatures via the Internet, for which you usually have to pay a small annual fee. If you don\'t update the virus signatures regu... See more Hi Aikokujin or \"Tiger\",
You asked how to check files for viruses so obviously you don\'t yet have an anti-virus program. You must buy an anti-virus program. There are lots of them on the market and I don\'t want to recommend any particular one. The important thing is that the supplier of the program offers regular updates of the so-called virus signatures via the Internet, for which you usually have to pay a small annual fee. If you don\'t update the virus signatures regularly then the program won\'t be able to detect viruses which have appeared since your last update or in the worst case since the date when the program was issued.
Hope this helps. ▲ Collapse
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Rick Henry
United States
Local time: 03:35
Italian to English
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| There is at least one free Antivirus package out there... | Aug 2, 2002 |
Just wanted to point out that there are also some decent free alternatives, one such being AVG. Their updates are quite regular and can be scheduled to happen automatically.
www.grisoft.com
HTH
R.
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Quote:
On 2002-08-02 14:54, RKKerns wrote:
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You must buy an anti-virus
... See more Just wanted to point out that there are also some decent free alternatives, one such being AVG. Their updates are quite regular and can be scheduled to happen automatically.
www.grisoft.com
HTH
R.
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Quote:
On 2002-08-02 14:54, RKKerns wrote:
...
You must buy an anti-virus program. There are lots of them on the market and I don\'t want to recommend any particular one.
▲ Collapse
| | | | | A couple of small (but important) points | Aug 2, 2002 |
that can easily be forgotten:
Check date and number formats to ensure you have localized them, i.e. in my case EUR40,78 is EUR40.78, esp. in tables.
Check for headers, footers, titles, text boxes, etc. that you might have missed.
Cheers,
Daina
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