Cost-effective translation through technology
Capita Translation and Interpreting (Capita TI) offers a responsive and adaptable translation service that is always tailored to the client’s needs – in this case, the need for financially viable translations of Sunseeker’s technical manuals.
Agile, low-cost translation of technical manuals
Sunseeker manufactures luxury motor yachts, with models such as the Manhattan, the Predator, the San Remo and the Portofino setting the standard for luxury and excellence in craftsmanship. Based in Dorset, on the South coast of England, Sunseeker employs around 2000 people and is represented on every continent by a network of distributors.
Available from 40 – 155 feet, the Sunseeker range constantly sets new standards and benchmarks. The company’s philosophy is to never settle for second best, and it’s this spirit of excellence that has driven Sunseeker to its pre-eminent position in the marine market today.
The challenge
Because Sunseeker is a global company, with a distributor presence on each continent, the company needs to be as agile as possible in responding to demand for their yachts.
When a new model is being shipped abroad, the user manual will often not be available in the appropriate language – Sunseeker therefore needed a way to translate these manuals quickly and cost-effectively, as and when they were needed for certain models.
Often local legislation meant that yachts could not be sold in-country without a fully translated manual, so it was vital that Sunseeker could provide these localised manuals along with the yacht, at the same time as delivery.
In addition, as large sections of some of the manuals were often identical, it was important to ensure that the translation process used these similarities to drive down turnaround time and cost, so that Sunseeker were not paying twice for translating the same section whenever a manual was updated or duplicated.
How Capita TI helped
From the start of their relationship with Sunseeker in 2012, Capita TI built up a translation memory (TM) which captured every word and phrase translated for them.
This was carefully maintained to ensure it was consistent and compliant with all Sunseeker’s linguistic directions, and was then applied to all new projects undertaken, meaning that the translations were effectively ‘recycled’ and not one translated word was wasted. Applying the TM was a free service for Sunseeker, with no project management or administration fee.
The result
An advantage of the increasing amount of text within the TM was that the time needed to produce a manual was drastically reduced, whether it was updated from a previous version or it was a new model. From around 30 workings days at the start of the relationship, the time needed to translate a manual fell to less than 10 days – this was instrumental in ensuring the translated manuals were ready for when the boats were to be shipped to the in-country distributors.
The TM also allowed for improved consistency across the board – with so much text being repeated from manual to manual, Capita TI could ensure that the same terms and phrases were being translated in the same way across all manuals.
Capita TI are delighted to have been able to put this solution into effect for Sunseeker and are looking forward to continuing a long and successful partnership with this prestigious boating company.
TM savings
Over the course of the three-year relationship between Sunseeker and Capita TI, savings from the use of translation memory have increased to the point where the cost of translating some manuals has been reduced by a factor of 10, and in general for every pound spent on translation, one is saved by the memory.
What Sunseeker said:
“The high level of quality and customer service provided by Capita TI is always appreciated with regards to the technical and ‘must be right’ translations that they do for us. The use of the translation memory service has been a great and very visible investment in lowering our costs in this section of business. This has enabled us to provide more choice to our clients and worldwide distributor network.”
Ed Dimond, Technical Author, Sunseeker International Ltd