ARGENTINE PROJECT MANAGERS: 2022 STATUS

Rosario Traducciones developed the 6th survey on the status of the translation industry in Argentina. Translators and project managers were asked about client scenarios, interests, knowledge, and expectations. 

This survey is conducted annually to identify key industry indicators and findings that may help decision-making.

The survey participants live in Argentina, mainly in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santa Fe. They are between 31 and 40 years old (32%), 41 and 50 years old (28%), 21 and 30 years old (21%), 51 and 60 years old (13%), and 61 and 70 years old (6%).

This article summarizes project managers’ input. 

Project Manager Profile

69% of surveyed project managers are women, and 31% are men. Fifty per cent have been working in the industry for over ten years, 40% for less than five years and 10% between 5 and 10 years. 

Concerning the type of contract, 40% work as employees, another 40% as freelancers and 20% as both. 

Forty-six per cent give little importance to their professional profile on social media, 31% quite a lot and 23% a great deal of importance. 

Eighty-five per cent are translators, 8% are engineers, and 7% have other basic training. On the other hand, 46% have completed specific courses on project management, and 58% think they should further their training. 

As for the language pairs they manage: 

• English – Spanish, 100%

• Portuguese – Spanish, 60%

• German – Spanish, 40%

• Italian – Spanish, 30%

• French – Spanish, 30%

The volume of Work and Prospects 

80% reported that work increased over the last three years; for 10%, it remained the same, and for the other 10%, it dropped. 

Over the next three years, 60% expect work to increase, 30% expect it to remain the same, and only 10% believe it will drop. 

Technology Impact on the Industry

Project managers expect that technology can help: 

• Improve MT quality, 80%

• Improve customer support, 70%

• Make tools more efficient, 70%

• Improve knowledge management, 60%

• Enable the use of tools, 60%

• Facilitate integration, 60%

• Increase reuse by 50%

• Offer tools in more languages, 40%

• Develop more robust tools, 20%

• Improve the cost of acquisitions (licenses, maintenance, training, etc.) by 10%

Work Tools and Training

When asked what project management software they use, they answered: 

• Plunet, 78%

• XTM, 56%

• Projetex, 22%

• WordBee, 22%

• Gespoint Translator Business, 11%

As for the project management software they prefer, they said:  

• Plunet, 78%

• Projetex, 22%

• XTM, 22%

• Gespoint Translator Business, 11%

• WordBee, 11%

Lastly, concerning project management software, they admitted they needed training in: 

• Projetex, 56%

• Plunet, 44%

• Gespoint Translator Business, 33%

• XTM, 33%

• WordBee, 22%

They were also asked about what translation and editing software they use, as listed below: 

• Trados Studio, 89%

• MemoQ, 89%

• Xbench, 78%

• Wordfast, 44%

• Memsource, 44%

• XTRF, 11%

• Catalyst, 11%

• MateCat, 11%

As for the translation and editing software that they prefer, they said: 

• Xbench, 70%

• Trados Studio, 60%

• MemoQ, 60%

• XTRF, 10%

• Memsource, 10%

• MateCat, 10%

They admitted they need training in: 

• XTRF, 44%

• MateCat, 44%

• Lilt, 33%

• Wordfast, 22%

• Catalyst, 22%

• MemoQ, 11%

• Memsource, 11%

• Xbench, 11%

The subjects they would like to receive training in are: 

• Quality assurance, 60%

• Project management, 60%

• Audiovisual translation, 40%

• Translation tools, 30%

• Machine translation/publishing, 30%

• Time management, 30%

• Transcreation, 20%

• Marketing for translators, 20%

• Financial self-management, 20%

• Spanish language regulations, 10%

Work Environment

The most valued aspect in a translation company is having a good work relationship and environment (4.2), followed by a good contract (3.6), timely payments (3.22), job stability (2.5) and attitude towards feedback or work-related issues (1.6).

Concerning the translator they assign projects to, they value the quality of translations (4.5), ongoing communication (3.5), timely delivery (3.4), availability (2.2) and attitude towards feedback or work-related issues (1.5).

On the other hand, concerning the clients they work with, they value having a good relationship with the client’s Project Manager (4), clear project guidelines (3.4), ongoing communication (3.1), deadline flexibility (2.7) and rate flexibility (2).

In all instances, professionals could rate each aspect from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest score.