by Daniela Costa
On August 21, we had the pleasure of talking with Gisele Garbin Guerra, Quality Lead and Project Manager at Plint. Giselle told us about her career in subtitling and then project management, and how she moved from working as a freelance subtitler to being a project manager and quality lead. Then we moved on to discuss the different steps involved in localization project management or, in Giselle’s words, “resource management”. Giselle explained that resource management is more intrinsically related to the linguists carefully selected, tested, and vetted for each specific project. In this vein, a project manager should ensure that the linguists have everything they need to complete their projects and, at the same time, understand the client’s needs and ask all specific questions to be a link between the client and the linguists involved in each assigned task.
Giselle explained that one of the challenges of project management is changes partway through a certain assigned title, so they expect linguists to be flexible to those changes, whenever possible.
In regards to the skills required from translators, Giselle told us that qualifications are important, not only in terms of certificates or diplomas but also of experience. Project managers also value linguists who are curious and ask questions, and Giselle encouraged linguists to ask anything they need to know about the project without being afraid of being considered unqualified or not fit for that specific task. Giselle talked a bit more about the exchange between project managers and linguists and said that “the project managers’ support is what brings the best out of our linguists”.
We also discussed the challenges of subtitling and concluded that audiovisual projects, in general, involve a lot of research, because you’re constantly shifting from one genre to the other. Giselle also told us about the criteria used for assigning projects, especially the manual assignment of high-priority and high-profile projects, as opposed to companies’ “shark tanks”, where linguists can choose from a list of available assignments. She said that project managers rely not only on the linguists’ qualifications but also on their availability and fields of specialization.
Lastly, we talked about the use of technology and how it helps communication between project managers and linguists, as well as the quality control process. Giselle also gave some tips for beginners and recommended starting with some volunteer work to gain experience and also seeking mentoring whenever possible.
All in all, it was a very fruitful chat that let us go deeper into the fascinating world of localization project management.
To see the full version of this and previous interviews, follow the Division’s Instagram account, @ata_avdivision, and watch them on IGTV. See you next year with more exciting Instagram lives!
