On June 2018, I was in Barcelona attending Fun for All V organised by TransMedia Catalonia Research Group. It was the first time that I was attending an event on video game translation and accessibility, and it was a wonderful experience, as I not only learnt a lot but met lots of nice people.
There were many talks with different points of view and dealing with different matters, all video game related, of course. However, one of the talks that really called my attention was the one given by the Italians Francesca Pezzoli and Riccardo Lausdei.
They presented their working model: Multileveled Virtual Teams. “What is this?” you might ask. Multilevel teams are a group of freelancers that form a layered group. Hence, more junior translators perform the translation/localisation of the product, while more experienced translators perform de review/editing step.
This way of working provides great advantages for the clients, as they get a full team of professionals which they can trust taking care of the localisation process of their game. As the team is always the same, and they all work together (virtually), the quality of the projects is outstanding.
This model also offers advantages to the translators, of course, as they get to work on bigger and more rewarding projects. Moreover, this is a good way for junior translators to start in the industry and to gain experience through the feedback they receive from their senior colleagues, which will lead to better quality.
As far as I know, they are the only ones using this working approach. I, as a junior translator who is trying to start their career on game localisation, I am wondering if there is any group of Spanish translators working with a similar approach or if someone would be willing to give it a try, as I’d love to join them.