Ten Steps to Make Your Technical Translation Project a Success

Editor’s note: The following guest post is from Dorothee Racette, president of the American Translators Association. She is an ATA-certified English into German/German into English freelance translator who specializes in medical and biomedical texts.

With an increasing number of companies pursuing a presence for their products in other countries, your management team’s global strategy may involve the need to translate technical and support materials into other languages. This article describes ten effective steps technical writers, publishers, or communications managers can take to ensure that technical translation projects go smoothly and to everyone’s satisfaction.

Steps to Take Before the Actual Translation

1. Plan Ahead for Technical Translation

Investing a few hours of your time in the preparation of the technical translation project will pay off greatly. To avoid stress and headaches down the road, resist the urge to assign your text to the first company or translator who pops up in a search engine. Instead, start by analyzing the materials you need to have translated. The text to be translated should be in a fully editable file format (not PDF), preferably before final layout, as the length of text varies among languages. To anticipate questions about your material, pull together some background information such as existing glossaries, descriptions/pictures of your company’s products, or previous technical translation that you can provide as reference materials. Although time pressure is sometimes unavoidable, it is in everyone’s best interest to allow sufficient time for the translation process so the final materials can be carefully reviewed before they are released.

2. Define the Target Audience

Where exactly will your text be read and by whom? Will your company’s widgets be sold in Latin America or Spain, in mainlandChina orTaiwan? Is your document an assembly instruction for consumers or an occupational safety leaflet for employees in another country? Precise instructions on the target audience and reading level of your document can greatly influence the final quality of the translation. If your budget is tight, consider reducing the amount of text you need. For example, complex technical descriptions can be replaced with graphics and you may be able to streamline some material in preparation for the defined target audience.

3. Define the Purpose of the Text

Related to the definition of the target audience, it is also important to clarify what the translated text is supposed to accomplish for your company. Is the text associated with your company’s brand or international sales? Will it be read often and critically? Will it be printed or read online? If you are trying to sell or persuade (and want to avoid making your company’s foreign presence an Internet joke (such as in this story from the BBC), fluent style will matter greatly. Information about the nature and purpose of your text provides valuable cues to the translators you work with.

With your finalized text on hand and answers to the questions above, you now are in a much better position to find a qualified translator.


The Actual Technical Translation Phase

4. Find a Qualified Translator

Knowing two languages is not enough to be a good translator. Qualified translators, such as those listed in the searchable ATA Directory of Translation and Interpreting Services typically specialize in their fields (engineering, patents, law etc.), continuously update their knowledge, and are skilled writers. Most professional translators work into their native language. Prepare a short summary of your technical translation project, which should include the language combination, approximate number of words, technical field, and time frame. The more information you provide about your project, the more useful responses you will receive. If your technical field is quite specific, ask about a translator’s past experience with similar material. Many translators have samples of their past work available to document their skills. If you decide to work with a translation company that provides an all-in-one service package, insist on seeing the qualifications of the person who will actually do the work and request references or samples.

 What about Machine Translation (MT)?

Machine translation has improved greatly over the past years and many free Internet services are now able to translate simple sentences with some accuracy. However, the intellectual property of your company probably cannot be described in sentences taken from a kids book, but has taken years to develop and fine-tune. When we consider that a seemingly simple word such as “cable” has eleven different meanings in one German technical dictionary, it becomes obvious that the transfer of complex technical concepts requires specialized knowledge and the ability to make precise distinctions of meaning. Is MT useful for your technical translation project? The short answer is, no.)

5. Selection Criteria for Technical Translation

Not unlike technical writing, technical translation is complex work that requires skill and experience. Accordingly, it has a price tag that must be budgeted for and an unusually low price quote should be a red flag. Qualities to look for in a technical translator include proven experience, references (don’t hesitate to request and follow up on them), knowledge of your industry, responsiveness, careful business correspondence, and genuine interest in your project.

6. What Certifications to Look For and What They Mean

Certified translators (CT) have passed an exam of their translation skills in one or more language combination and are subject to rigorous continuing education requirements. While that does not necessarily mean that every CT is a perfect fit for your technical translation project, certification provides additional assurance that the work will be done professionally and to your specifications.

7. Take the Value of Specialization into Account

As mentioned earlier, many translators are highly specialized in their fields and would not consider accepting work in other fields. As the customer, you benefit from the expertise and accumulated reference resources of a translator who follows the latest developments in the field on a daily basis, has invested in the right dictionaries and professional tools, and knows where to find accurate terminology information. Translators who claim they can translate anything most likely are just starting out in the business and may be quite inexperienced.

8. Take the Time to Answer Questions

Good translators ask questions and you should expect to hear from your translator during the translation process. Remember that every answer, picture, or detail you can provide about your company’s products will make the final text in the other language more accurate and understandable to the target audience. If you are busy, refer the translator to engineers or IP specialists to make sure there are no misunderstandings about technical details, but follow up to make sure the questions were properly answered.

If your technical translation project is extensive and involves thousands of words, it may also be a good idea to ask for one file to be delivered in advance so that an educated native speaker and subject-matter expert in your company can assess and comment on the accurate use of terminology.

 

Working with the Translated Text

Here are some important factors to manage after the translator has returned the materials in the foreign language:

9. Proofreading

Most publications produced by your company are proofread repeatedly before publication, and translations should not be an exception. Have the final text proofread by an educated native speaker who knows your business (and, if possible, your target market) and then have the final layout proofread (again) by your translator. This approach helps eliminate small, but embarrassing errors associated with typesetting (for example, the Spanish word “año” means “year,” but the same word without the “ñ”–ano– refers to the rectum).

10. Edits and Modifications Down the Road

Make sure to keep all translations, reference materials, and glossaries filed together for follow-up technical translation projects. Although you will ideally establish a long-term working relationship with translators or translation companies who are familiar with your company’s products and strategies, it is helpful to organize the materials in a structure that is aligned with your work. If your preferred translators are not available, ask them for recommendations of qualified colleagues.

By following these ten basic steps, you will be able to get your technical translation job done right–the first time. If you have any further questions, ask the members of the American Translators Association.

 

Further Reading and Materials:

The website of the American Translators Association contains a wealth of information. Don’t miss the valuable recommendations in the ATA brochure Getting It Right.


trix

12 years ago

The importance of a technical translation being accurate and efficient can indeed not be overstated. Especially in the ever faster moving world of globalized business, successful information and technology transfer within multinational businesses can make the difference between win or lose.

Liam

11 years ago

Hi Dorothee

I’ve just found this post – really interesting. I don’t think I’ve found a better article which really offers clear guidance on the procurement of technical translations. Whilst all of the points that you make are really important, it is critical to find the right translator with the specialization in technical writing. Each language and culture has different expectation of the register delivered in a technical piece of writing, and the translator must be aware of how to write a technical document in the style acceptable in their native language.

David Glen

11 years ago

Dorothee, I’d like to congratulate you on a VERY well written and thought out article. Your 10 step explanation and overview of what can many times be highly complex projects is very clear and to the point.

5 Tips for successful translation projects « Translation Wire

11 years ago

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11 years ago

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Steve Morse

11 years ago

Lots of good tips here. On the authoring side, I would add that writing less will also pay dividends. Organizing your content into short, reusable topics will save a lot of time and money when something changes and needs to be retranslated.

The article seems to be written for shops that only translate into a few languages. Large global enterprises cannot so easily dismiss the value of machine translation, which is far more advanced than what Google Translate can do for free. Translating content can cost as much as it did to create it in the first place. Automating the translation process with an end-to-end localization workflow – which of course includes an actual human reviewing and approving all output – can save 80-90% of these costs.

More important, beginning to translate as soon as the content is approved helps ensure that all the languages you need are ready to go at the same time, dramatically improving time to market.

If you’re translating into more than ten languages, it might be time to bite the bullet and move to a structured content strategy for your tech docs. If you are at that point, check out this webinar: http://tinyurl.com/matxc7o – which also answers the question, why is it so hard to translate from English? Fascinating stuff.

Jason Smith

11 years ago

In this modern competitive world, where there is nearly no room for error and with the increase of globalization, industries are moving their business in some other countries, and moving to some other country means have to deal with different language, this is a point where top translation agencies, their services get significantly important to have a successful business in the recent world.

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