Translation process
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Tips for a smooth translation process
Smooth translation processes are important for globally active companies. You can easily contribute to the improvement of the translation process.
See our tips for a smooth translation process and learn how you can make a valuable contribution to an efficient process, which you benefit from now and in the future. Ultimately, this ensures you will receive better translations. Your marketing documents are more consistent and misunderstandings, which could well affect security in the technical area, are eliminated from the outset.
The most important benefits at a glance
- shorter delivery times
- fewer queries
- lower expenditure
- better translations
- confidence and peace of mind
What you can do
4 steps for better translations and a smooth translation process
1.
Ensure fonts are compatible –
do your fonts support the target language?
Ideally, when creating the original document, you should already be checking that the fonts used support all target languages.
Otherwise, it can happen that diacritic symbols (e.g. č, Ș, ḍ, ø, ģ) or the writing system of the foreign language (e.g. Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese) cannot be correctly represented.
With our internationalisation check service, you’ll find out before the translation whether your fonts are compatible and we’ll recommend a suitable one if necessary. This will mean that your project is perfectly prepared for smooth processes from the very start.
2.
Plan for text expansion
Anyone who’s seen a multilingual brochure before has probably noticed that the same piece of text can vary in length from language to language. This is known as text expansion.
Not giving consideration to the sufficient sizing of text boxes, buttons, etc. can lead to the unfortunate realisation that the translated text doesn’t fit the layout. To avoid costly, frustrating follow-up work, you can plan for the translation in advance.
With our internationalisation check service, you’ll find out whether your documents are fit for the target language’s text expansion.
Did you know?
English is known for being very compact.
German, on the other hand, is around 20% longer on average.
And French is 25% longer than German.
The reason lies in the differing possibilities of how to form sentences and combine words.
3.
Optimise texts for translation
with our tips
If you know that a text is going to be translated later, it’s good practice to take this into consideration when writing it. With our 14 tips, you can optimise your texts for the translation process.
Minimise misunderstandings and time-consuming queries by sending your translators unambiguous texts with clear instructions.
The translated texts are easier to read and create a greater impression of consistency and, on top of that, delivery times are reduced. So it’s well worth it.
Discover our source-text optimisation service
If you’d rather not optimise your texts yourself, we can do it for you with our source-text optimisation service
With our 14 tips, you can write
source texts which are perfect for translation
Expand to show
| 1 | Sentence structure | Use concise, clear sentences
Avoid lengthy, convoluted sentence structures. |
| 2 | Synonyms | Avoid synonyms in technical texts: they dilute the text and lead to misunderstandings.
It’s better to use one term for each concept/item. |
| 3 | Abbreviations | Write out unfamiliar abbreviations in their full form: this makes the text easier to understand. |
| 4 | Proper names and product names | Mark or separately list proper names and product names; clearly state whether these need to be translated and, if so, how |
| 5 | Menu items and file paths | Determine whether and how menu items and file paths should be translated:
a) Take on source text EN: Start > Menu > Options > Print > Duplex DE: Wählen Sie unter Benutzereinstellungen die gewünschte Option aus. b) Take on source text + translation in brackets EN: Start > Menu > Options > Print > Duplex DE: Wählen Sie unter Benutzereinstellungen die gewünschte Option aus. c) Translate EN: Start > Menu > Options > Print > Duplex DE: Wählen Sie unter Benutzereinstellungen die gewünschte Option aus. |
| 6 | Humour and world play | Avoid humour and word play: these are usually untranslatable |
| 7 | Active or passive | It’s better to use active than passive: this is clearer and easier to translate |
| 8 | Text expansion | Leave enough space for text expansion: the translation can be 20-35% longer than in the source language depending on the language combination |
| 9 | Dates | Clearly specify dates, writing the names of months if necessary.
The following is problematic: 11/12/10 ⇨ Does this mean 11 December 2010? 12 November 2010? 10 December 2011? Better: 11 Dec. 2010 or 11 December 2010 |
| 10 | Numbers | Write out large numbers (5,000 instead of 5k, 5,000,000 instead of 5m, million, billion, etc.) |
| 11 | Measurements | Convert units for the target audience (e.g. °F <-> °C, inch <-> cm, lbs <-> kg) |
| 12 | Currency values and measurement units | Attaching a list of all currency values and measurement units allows a consistent writing style to be established
If necessary, determine the writing style yourself or have us advise you on the best style for your target group: • EUR 100 or €100? • 100 USD, 100 US Dollars or $100? • 5 inches or 5”? • 20 litres, 20 l or 20 L? |
| 13 | Percentages | Determine the writing style:
• 50% or 50 per cent? |
| 14 | Local and cultural particularities | Explain local and cultural particularities in the text.
1. On Guy Fawkes Night… 2. Discover the magnificent landscape of the West Highland Way… 3. Start your day with shrimp and grits. |
4.
Helpful reference material
The more information we have, the better the result will be. Valuable and meaningful information can be provided by:
- Glossaries and terminology lists
- Previous versions of the document (original AND translation)
- The source text of similar documents (original AND translation)
- Screenshots and images
- List of abbreviations, business units, product names
Good reference material for better translations & a more efficient translation processes
Any questions about improving your translation process?
I’m happy to discuss your individual request with you.
I look forward to receiving your phone call or email.
Managing Director
+49 (0)511 169 50 48
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