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機械翻訳のない時代に、66,000ワードを二週間以内に完成

2004年9月といえば、機械翻訳が実用化されるずっと前のことです。現在では、24時間365日世界中で作業するチームを備え、各個人も1日に3万語の翻訳ができると言われていますが、当時は、質の高い仕事をするために1日1000語を目安にしていました。長期プロジェクトや多言語、校正、複雑なフォーマットなどを含む場合はさらに長く掛かるのが常でした。

そんな状況で、アメックスに提供されるコース用に、66,000ワード以上にも上るプレゼン、資料などを日本語に翻訳するという緊急プロジェクトをZircon Management Consulting Ltdに依頼されました。弊社で7人の翻訳者から成るチームを組み、無事に完了しました。その後、Zircon社から以下のフィードバックをいただきました。


We are writing to thank you for organising the translations. Our colleagues in Japan were pleased with the documents and were impressed with quality of the translations. Particularly because the concepts were difficult to understand and were very technical and loaded with psychological jargon.

We at Zircon were impressed that the formatting of the documents was professionally taken care of and the materials were ready for the client when emailed. This was important because we could not open the files to check them before they were sent to our client in Japan.

Due to the high quality of the translations, Amex have not needed to rewrite the materials and on only a few occasions needed to re-translate the definition of the words. 99% was translated correctly and only in the behavioural questionnaire (where the meanings of the sentences were not explicit) were there some more significant changes.

When debriefing with my client, I also asked if whether they could tell the difference between the translators used and their quality. They could identify the difference between the translators, however given the fact that you got the translations done so quickly within just a few days we are more than happy with the results.

Your amazing speed at turning the materials around in under 2 weeks, meant that we were able to deliver the 1 week training course in Japan - thank you.

My client stated that your work "exceeded their expectation".


その約2ヵ月後にまた連絡があり、今度は6万ワードをフランス語、スペイン語、イタリア語に、またフォーマットが非常に複雑なアンケート(2千ワード)を中国語(簡体字および繁体字)、タイ語、スウェーデン語、ドイツ語、オランダ語に訳すプロジェクトのコーディネートを依頼されました。これも12人のチームを組み、無事に完成しました。