HoorayHR
In 2022, HR software startup HoorayHR faced the challenge of taking the company global. Everything had to be translated to English: the application, the marketing website, support articles, the HR Glossary, and all blogs. This all had to be coordinated and meet the budget.
The challenge
Everything had already been translated to English in the past, but HoorayHR wasn't satisfied. Being a start-up, they needed to get it right this time. At the same time, they were developing new features and focussed on the growth of the company. This meant there was no capacity for a new big project. Because of the large amount of texts with different objectives, they needed someone who really understood their mission.
My approach
First, I mapped out what would be technically possible and talked to the developers. Then I drafted a planning of 12 weeks with a budget and discussed what needed to be translated first and what could wait. I read up on the company and talked to developers, the marketeer, and customer service to find out what would be needed for the app, on the marketing website, and in the help centre articles. I asked everyone the input I needed and got to work with improving the texts already in existence and creating new translations. Meanwhile, we met up regularly and I kept everybody posted. In this way I grew into a project manager role and ended up directing the entire translation project.
The result
HoorayHR is as accessible, fun and informal now in English as it is in Dutch. They also have their own style guide and term base now that I created for new software releases. We agreed that I take care of future translations for new releases so everything can go live at once and the translations remain coordinated.
Bridget has helped us tremendously with translation lately. She is well aware of the technical possibilities and very capable of using them efficiently. The project was completed according to schedule and budget. She works well independently and is very committed. In addition, Bridget is a very nice person to work with and super eager to learn. She really wants to understand who she works for and what the goals are to really understand what's important to work on.
Edwin from HoorayHR