Did You Know? Working with Translators in Various Time Zones

Did you know that we have translators in so many times zones that we have to factor in this small, but very important, detail when we set up delivery deadlines with our clients? That’s right! We find the very best translators and editors to work on our clients’ translation projects. At Accessible Translation Solutions (ATS) we work directly with professionals all over the world, from Hong Kong to Kefar-Sava, Israel, from Montevideo to Kampot, Cambodia. Of course, we have many U.S.-based translators and editors, so we deal with at least four of the six U.S. time zones as well.

How does this affect our clients’ delivery deadlines? Well, first we have to make sure we can take on a project from a client in the amount of time they specify. This includes the time it takes for us to manage the project from start to finish, allowing our translators and editors ample time to work on the job and giving ourselves enough time to perform the quality assurance step that takes place before we send the final deliverables to our clients. Time zones factor into this scenario because if a translator is in one time zone and the editor is in another, which is often the case, we have to ensure that the files are passed from the translation step to the editing step seamlessly and without delay. In our line of work, time is always of the essence. We know our clients need to receive their translation projects back in a timely manner, so we do everything we can to make sure our processes and timelines run smoothly.

If our translators or editors have specific questions about a text they are working on, we need to make sure that they receive the best information, straight from the client. This is why we make a point of discussing specific aspects of our clients’ projects with them in as much detail as possible, and we relay that information as quickly as possible during our translators’ and editors’ working hours in their respective time zones. This may mean we are working with our Hebrew translators in Israel on Sundays instead of Fridays, as their weekends are observed as Friday and Saturday. All of these little details must be considered in order for us to ensure that we always meet our clients’ deadlines!