Royal Netherlands Navy

Just a little while longer and then one of the largest translation projects of recent years will be completed. A translation project executed by Triview Technical Communication for the Royal Netherlands Navy in the framework of the sale of frigates to the Chilean Navy. This is a good time to look back on this enormous project.

Training documentation translation

On 15 April 2004, Triview received an invitation to quote for the translation of a training documentation package for the Royal Netherlands Navy. This involved a small portion of the total volume and was intended as a test assignment. In order to obtain a good idea of the price/quality ratio, the Royal Navy sent out this initial request to several agencies with the intention of choosing a provider for the translation of the entire volume.

Technical complexity and tight project management

At the time, Triview Technical Communication had been operating in the market as a specialist in the area of Technical Documentation for around 10 years. During those 10 years, Triview had proven itself a reliable partner for large-scale projects whereby the focus primarily rested on technical complexity and tight project management. In that respect, the Royal Navy’s request was fully in line with Triview’s expertise.

23 million words to translate

During the execution of the test assignment, Triview was able to distinguish itself from the other providers. On taking all factors into consideration, the Royal Navy decided to engage Triview to undertake the total volume of 23 million words, accommodated in 1,600 manuals.

A word from the Navy…

We have much to tell about the execution of this project. But wouldn’t it be much better to let the client speak for itself? We are speaking to Mrs Evelien de Haan, Project Manager within the Chilli translation project team and Chief Petty Officer, Marine Electrical Engineering, Frans Tot, a technical expert and Project Leader for translations within the Royal Navy.

A word from Evelien de Haan:

What distinguishes Triview, especially in terms of the approach to this project?

A project of this size and complexity can only be organised by applying a tight, pragmatic approach. The process involved several phases before the final translations could be delivered. First of all, all of the books had to be digitised. Given the bad condition of the books, OCR scanning was not possible in most cases. That turned out to be an enormous challenge that no one had really counted on. It appeared, however, that Triview was able to come up with a quick solution whereby a process was developed which could be applied so that the obsolete books could be converted quickly into ‘clean’ content, which was then easily accessible for the translation process.

What relation did the translations have with respect to training the Chileans?

Triview was bound to a tight schedule. Training sessions and examinations were often planned months in advance. It was therefore essential that the translated manuals and testing standards were readily available. Triview never had to postpone a delivery and all training sessions and examinations could proceed as scheduled.

Some parts of the assignments contained parts that were classified as confidential. What makes this so special within the context of the translations? Part of the assignment involved the translation of classified material. This material may not, for example, be sent via e-mail and there are strict regulations regarding the screening of translators and storage methods. To this end, Triview has been certified by the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD). Among other things, Triview modified the security of its premises and incorporated instructions for handling classified material into the quality management system. Due to the confidential nature of certain texts, it was even decided to translate these on the Defence premises.

Can you tell us something about the quality assurance in the project?

For the purpose of the quality assurance, a review process was applied that was implemented by Triview in-house. This involved the assignment of various product specialists that normally work for Triview as Technical Writers. This method of working created a perfect link between the linguistic quality of the translators and the quality of the technical content.

Chief Petty Officer, Marine Electrical Engineering, Frans Tot: Frans can be considered the technical expert in the area of frigates and in that capacity he has acted as a walking encyclopaedia for the specific terminology used by the Royal Navy.

Can you tell us something about the complexity of the technology applied to the ships?

The technology applied to frigates is wide ranging. From coffee machines to radar equipment. From irons to complete ship engines. From navigation to weaponry. This demands a lot of Triview’s translators.

Nautical terminology turned out to be the biggest challenge within the project. In order to guarantee consistency, Triview developed an online terminology database. This enabled all the translators to use the same approved names and expressions in the various translations. The Navy and the Chileans also had access to this database. This is how one of the largest online terminology databases in the world came into existence.

With a volume of 1,600 books, you quickly lose sight of the overall picture. Did the Navy have an adequate overview of the components in the translation? A special project management module was developed in conjunction with the Royal Navy. This consisted of a database module at the Royal Navy and a project management module at Triview. Since these systems had to be kept up-to-date in real time, they were continuously monitored to see where and in which stage each document was.

Finally, a word from Jos de Ruyter, Operations Manager at Triview and Project Manager within this project.

In your opinion, what was the greatest challenge with respect to this project?

Given the scope and the huge number of resources working within the project, I would say that the process was organisationally complex. The greatest problem was to maintain an overview of the large number of books and the various stages that these went through.

Which selection criteria was applied for the translators that were working on the project?

Due to the enormous volume of translation work, it was necessary to deploy a large number of technical translators. At the peak of the project, approximately 70 translators were working on it continuously. Given the fact that Triview only works with native speaking translators that were also required to have the relevant technical, nautical knowledge, the selection process was difficult and time-consuming. In the end, this turned out to be a good investment. We first set up a competent team that we still use to execute some interesting assignments.

How do you look back on this project?

The project was a wonderful challenge. It was a pleasure to work with the people from the Royal Navy. A professional club that know their business. Within the project, Triview not only proved its translating skills, but it also transpired that Triview is capable of managing projects of this scope and size professionally. Triview has meanwhile also acquired a considerable spin-off from the Navy project. There appeared to a be a great demand for the digitisation of badly legible material that couldn’t be accommodated by the OCR process. Consequently, Triview is currently working on a large project for the National Library of the Netherlands. By virtue of this, Triview is making millions of parliamentary documents accessible through thousands of index pages, enhanced with advanced XML technology.

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