Top 5 Soft Skills for Translation Project Managers

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There is no doubt that the translation industry has changed drastically over the past 30 years. The process of globalization, together with the development of new technologies and the need for fast and massive communication, has led to an unprecedented change in the structure of our field. At the end of the 1990s, the image that came to mind when thinking about the translator was that of the freelancer "working alone, fenced in behind a pile of dictionaries, paper and all kinds of documentation" (Rico Pérez, 2002: 38). To this day, this image still resonates in the minds of those who are not part of the translation industry, but the truth is that the actual situation of our profession is far from this solitary and individual perception.

While it is true that the freelance translator is still a very popular career in our industry today, in recent years we have seen the development of other profiles besides the translator or interpreter, such as the DTP specialist, the post-editor, the copywriter and, of course, the translation project manager, also known as the PM. The proliferation of these career opportunities has certainly caught the attention of students, who are increasingly interested in finding alternatives to the usual translation and interpreting (T&I) career paths.

For those of you who would like to learn more about translation project management, we have prepared this article about something that is not usually included in university curricula, but is certainly required for PMs by translation agencies and companies around the world: soft skills in translation project management. To find out which are the top 5 soft skills for PMs, we collected a total of 70 job advertisements for translation project management positions in different countries around the world (e.g. Canada, the United States of America, Spain, Chile, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Poland, to name a few). This is a corpus-based study that we hope will serve as a starting point for developing new lines of research, but most importantly, our main goal is to shed light on a profession that is still largely unexplored and for which there is hardly any bibliography (i.e., compared to other T&I professions).

What is a PM and what do they do?

A translation agency typically provides its clients with all types of language services, from the most traditional, such as translation or interpreting, to the newest additions to the T&I market, such as localization, post-editing, and transcreation. Typically, translation agencies do not employ in-house language professionals, but instead outsource these services to other language service providers, be they freelancers (translators, interpreters, post-editors, etc.) or other translation agencies. It is in this process of outsourcing language services that the PM comes into play. They are the person in charge of overseeing the entire process, from the moment the client requests the service until it is delivered to the client (Jáñez, 2020).

To understand the many responsibilities of a PM, it is important to first consider the different parts of the process. Typically, the client writes an email to the agency requesting a service (for example, a technical translation into Spanish of a document originally written in English). In this case, the client will be given several options, but the two main ones would be:

1) translation only (to be translated by a single translator) + quality assessment (QA), which is usually performed by the PM at the translation agency;

2) translation and revision (two linguists are involved, one for each service) + QA (PM).

Let us assume that in this particular case the client only wants translation services (along with QA, which is always included in the price). If this is a regular client who has previously agreed rates with the agency, he will not request a quote. However, in the case of a new client, a quote must be provided for each of the services requested. Depending on the size of the company, the proposal is prepared by the PM (in smaller agencies) or the sales department (in larger companies). Once the project is approved by the client, the PM has the following responsibilities:

- Confirm the final delivery date with the client. It is crucial for the PM to know when the project will be delivered in order to avoid misunderstandings with the client and the linguists assigned to the project. Communication must be fluid, open, clear, and consistent so that all parties are on the same page.

- If necessary, prepare the file so that all the content of the original document is correctly imported into the CAT tool. Depending on the complexity of the format, some agencies outsource this process to a localization engineer.

- Assigning the project to a linguist. The PM must consider several aspects when looking for the perfect match: language pair, subject area, availability of linguists, rates, and most importantly, the agency's profit margin. Most translation agencies use a Translation Management System (TMS) to help PMs manage their projects. A TMS is automated software that greatly assists in managing translation assets on a large scale and is the PM's main tool. It allows PMs to find the best candidate for each service. They can search the database built into the TMS and then filter the data they need for each specific project.

- Once the linguist is assigned, the delivery date is confirmed with the linguist and the document is usually delivered to the PM well in advance, allowing the PM to perform QA before delivering the document to the client.

- Ensure that the project is ready for the linguist to start working on. At this point, all translation memories (TMs) and glossaries should be included in the project package of the CAT tool. For regular clients, the translation agency should have a TM and glossary for each language pair and specialization. For new clients, PMs are responsible for creating new TMs (and glossaries, if requested by the client).

- Upload the project package to the TMS. The translator receives the package along with all the information that the PM has entered into the TMS, such as references, special instructions, delivery dates, and any other information of interest. As mentioned earlier, the TMS allows the PM to manage multiple projects simultaneously in a very simple and relatively quick manner.

- Make sure there are no unforeseen problems during the translation process. Occasionally, the translator may have questions about terminology or request more context or references, so the PM should contact the client and try to get back to the linguist with the answers as soon as possible. Similarly, the client may ask for a change to be made to a portion of the text, in which case the PM must notify the translator, stop the project immediately, and restart it when the final document is received. In the best case scenario, the process goes smoothly, but the ugly truth is that a lot can happen, so PMs are expected to adapt to each situation.

- Once the translation process is complete, the PM will perform QA. The PM's ultimate goal is to ensure that the client is satisfied with the results (Jáñez, 2020), so under no circumstances should QA be left out of the project management process. - Deliver the document to the client via email in the required format. Although there are some clients who prefer to pick up the translated document in person at the agency, agencies prefer to send the documents to them via email or mail. In fact, for certain specific documents (such as sworn translations), the agency will send a hard copy to the client. In most cases, translation agencies have pre-arranged rates with various courier services.

- After delivery, many clients like to share their feedback with PMs. This feedback does not necessarily have to be negative. In fact, translation agencies always encourage clients to comment on the results. For example, if the client makes changes to terminology preferences, the PM must update the TM and, if applicable, the client's glossary for future projects.

- The project is closed in the TMS, and all folders and communications are filed and stored for future reference, if needed.

As we can see, PMs perform many tasks in their day-to-day work, but the most difficult part of their job is to perform them simultaneously and efficiently. Although PMs share many competencies with translators, they are two completely different jobs. Therefore, PMs need certain soft skills that may be different from the translation world. Let's find out what these skills are, and which ones are most in demand by companies today.

Top 5 Soft Skills for PMs

For this corpus-based study, we collected a total of 70 project management job advertisements from different parts of the world. They are all written in English to facilitate the analysis in our corpus tool, and they have all been published within the last 4 months (January 2023 - April 2023) to ensure that the study is as up-to-date as possible. We used AntConc (version 3.5.9), a freeware corpus analysis toolkit for concordance and text analysis.

After updating all 70 job ads with our corpus analysis tool, we used a stop list (i.e., a list of the most commonly used words in English - prepositions, particles, interjections - also called "empty words") to obtain the best possible results. First of all, we were curious to know which were the 20 most repeated words in all 70 texts, and if any soft skills appeared in this list. Here are the results of this first search in AntConc:

 

 

As we can see in the picture above, the most repeated words in all job advertisements are ‘experience’ (222 times), ‘skills’ (201 times), and ‘translation’ (190 times). However, the terms that stand out for the purposes of our study are those ranked number 9 and 14: ‘communication’ and ‘time’, our two first soft skills.

#1: Communication

The word ‘communication’ is repeated 88 times in our corpus, which makes it the most requested soft skill by translation agencies. We also wanted to check the context of this word and what terminology companies were using, so we filtered this information in the ‘Cluster/N-Gram’ tab in AntConc. Here are the first 10 results obtained in this search:

 

Frequency	Cluster
5	oral, written, and interpersonal communication
4	outstanding verbal and written communication
2	excellent communication
2	establish and maintain lines of communication
2	facilitates effective and superior communication
2	[must have] skills to ensure effective communication
1	exercise great communication
1	drive timely communication
1	outstanding communication
1	good at multitasking, excellent communication

 

As we can see, the word "communication" is most often preceded by the adjectives "outstanding," "excellent," "superior," and "great," making it clear that this is a must for PMs. It is also clear that communication must be both written and oral (as well as interpersonal), and that they must take the initiative to establish communication ("establish and maintain lines of communication"; "exercise great communication"; "facilitate effective and superior communication"), rather than waiting for the client or other team members to initiate communication.

Strong communication is needed not only when dealing with clients, but also when resolving potential problems within the team or when building trust between the agency and the translator. Without a PM who can communicate, the team will not be able to meet the client's requirements or maintain a cohesive dialogue.

#2: Time management

Our second most requested soft skill for PMs is none other than time (management), which appears 73 times in the job postings. Again, our next search was focused on getting more information on the context used for time management, and these were the first 10 results of the search:

 

Frequency	Cluster
5	skills of multi-tasking and time management
3	excellent time management skills
2	produce high-quality, on-time results
2	projects are delivered on time
1	[handles] a fast-paced and time-sensitive environment
1	[ensures] on-time, efficient delivery
1	keen awareness of the time requirements
1	dealing with time-sensitive matters
1	proven communication, organizational and time management
1	manage and monitor time, workflow, etc.

 

As can be seen from the previous table, PMs must have "excellent time management skills" and be able to handle fast-paced environments and be aware of time requirements. As we mentioned earlier, planning and a well-structured organization are essential to this job, as they affect the outcome of every project. Let's not forget that PMs define and deliver the project plan, so they need to know all the deadlines that have been agreed with clients, linguists and the rest of the team to ensure that the project goes as planned.

When it comes to time management, we would like to point out that it is not only about how PMs manage their own time, but also how they manage everything else in terms of time, i.e. different documents/services that need to be delivered on the same date, QA deadlines, quality calls, and last but not least, managing their time off, something that most PMs fail to remember.

#3: Attention to detail

'Attention to detail' is our number 3 soft skill for PMs, appearing 37 times in our corpus. As with the previous two soft skills, we searched the context of the word 'detail’, and this is what we got:

 

Frequency	Cluster
25	attention to detail
11	detail-oriented
1	a strict eye for detail

 

Although the context here does not add much information, it is no surprise that PMs must be detail-oriented if they are to be successful in their jobs. As mentioned earlier, PMs manage many projects at once, so they must be very aware of each project's instructions and make sure that the client's expectations are met. Even though they are not the ones responsible for translating the documents, they are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the document delivered is of the highest possible quality. In fact, the quality of translations depends entirely on the PM's attention to detail.

#4: Multitasking

After time management, multitasking appears 32 times in our corpus, making it the 4th most important soft skill for PMs:

 

Frequency	Cluster
10	multitasking skills
2	ability to multitask and prioritize
1	ability to effectively multitask in order to simultaneously execute multiple […]
1	multi-task oriented
1	multitasker
1	fast-paced, multitasking environment
1	multi-task/manage multiple projects simultaneously
1	ability to multi-task in a time sensitive environment
1	ability to effectively multi-task in stressful situations
1	proven skills of multi-tasking

 

The fact that PMs handle several tasks per month (and per day) makes it obvious that they need to be able to manage several projects simultaneously, most of the time in stressful situations. As Matis (2016) points out, although there are some tools that can help PMs multitask in their daily work (such as TMS), the way to organize everything properly to guarantee on-time delivery of quality projects remains in the hands of PMs.

As a result, a PM can be on the phone with a customer at the same time they are checking their inbox. The next minute, they are performing QA or resolving a last-minute issue. While it is important for PMs to be able to perform multiple tasks at once, it is equally important for them to pay attention to everything they are doing and not neglect any of it. Similarly, prioritization is critical for PMs, as time management often forces them to prioritize one task over another.

#5: Problem Solving

Last but not least, we close this top 5 soft skills for translation project managers with the last one on the list: problem solving, which is repeated 26 times in the job postings.

 

Frequency	Cluster
20	problem solving skills/abilities
1	investigate client complaints, solve problems and work with […]
1	ability to improvise and problem solve under pressure
1	pro-active and problem-solver
1	strong troubleshooting, problem-solving and decision-making skills
1	proactive mindset to problem-solving
1	be a resourceful problem solver

 

Problem solving is an essential skill for dealing with the issues that PMs face on a daily basis. Problems are inevitable when managing projects, and PMs know this and are used to it. Therefore, they need to have problem-solving skills and be able to adapt to each situation to ensure that problems are resolved without delay and with the least possible impact.

The ability to improvise and have a proactive mindset is part of the PM's problem-solving toolkit. From the translator who cancels at the last minute after confirming availability and being assigned the project, to the QA report that contains several errors that could have easily been avoided, to dealing with negative feedback from the customer.

While identifying risks is critical to your projects, it is also true that most of the time you learn as you go, especially from making mistakes.

Conclusion

First of all, I hope that this article has helped you to better understand the role of PMs and the many duties they are responsible for, as well as the soft skills they need to have in order to excel in their job.

I have only covered the 5 most sought-after soft skills for PMs in the translation industry according to the job advertisements we have compiled, but I would like to point out that these are not the only ones they need to have. Soft skills such as 'motivation', 'critical thinking', 'negotiation' and 'team building' were also found and repeated in all 70 texts.

I always like to compare the role of a PM to that of an orchestra conductor: you step in when needed, keep the tempo and make sure that the audience stands up and applauds, or in other words, that the client continues to use the translation agency's services. It is not an easy job, and there is no denying that the PM's job requires many skills. After all, they are the ones who keep the wheels turning and make everything possible.

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