Corporate translations can cover a wide range of materials: websites, print and web ads, usage instructions, employee handbooks, contracts, and more. In our 20 years of experience providing business translation services, Morningside has seen it all and encountered the entire gamut of unique project circumstances and special requirements. Those decades of experience have given us the tools to identify patterns and overarching themes that make corporate translation projects go off track.

Here are four common areas in corporate translation projects that are most likely to cause issues that could negatively impact budget, schedule, or quality ­– and tips on how to avoid these pitfalls.

1. Not allocating enough time for translation

Most businesses know well in advance that their corporate documents will require translation somewhere down the line. However, translation is too often considered an afterthought. Accurate corporate translation often requires multiple passes by experienced translators, editors, and machine learning tools to ensure the highest quality output. This necessary level of scrutiny takes time.

To protect against deadline drift, share documents requiring translation, their final intended use and their audience with your business translation services provider. Your translation partner will provide a timeline for their process and ensure the schedule includes sufficient time. Trying to compress translation into a truncated period at the end of the project can result in rush fees that inflate your budget.

2. Lack of internal communication

Poor communication between your company’s teams can result in confusion that can slow a project to a crawl or stall its forward progress entirely. Various stakeholders in your organization may have divergent expectations of where and how the final translated materials will be used. Discovering these disparities after the translation has been completed can result in deliverables not matching expectations.

Furthermore, poor internal communication could lead to a missed opportunity to leverage language asset management tools like translation memory. Terms, phrases and even large blocks of text are often reused in materials across different business units. Failing to leverage existing glossaries, term-bases and translation memories could cause unnecessary expenditures and inconsistent quality.

Involve every stakeholder on your end from the beginning of the project, outlining their final needs. Include your corporate translation services provider throughout this process so they, too, understand the requirements for each department and will work in concert toward meeting your team’s complete set of specifications.

3. Overlooking technical or formatting issues

Technical aspects of your materials may seem insignificant to you but could have a serious impact on how your corporate translation services provider approaches or delivers a project. Share as much as you know about your project from the very beginning, including your source language materials as they exist in their final format. Remember, translation starts with authoring.

For example: if your corporate translation project involves translating forms and instructions for use, your final deliverable may require both languages side-by-side in a document. If your project involves graphics or images, you may need to change their positioning or swap them out for something more culturally relevant. Beyond the basic language translation, this structure requires review from a designer to ensure the layout does not negatively impact translation quality. Because these additional “non-language” translation considerations take time, it’s important to share as much information as possible with your translation partner from the very beginning so that they can build in additional resources and timing.

4. Insufficient control over the source material

Make sure your source material is completely final before handing it off to your translation partner. Source language changes have a ripple effect that impacts translation. Returning to previously translated materials to make tweaks once the source language has been changed isn’t always as easy as adjusting a word or two. To preserve accuracy, limit the number of changes after the source material has been translated.  Even small changes require additional scrutiny that can misuse time or risk inaccuracies.

Develop a personal relationship with your translation services partner

With all translation projects, your language services partner is there to support your success. Getting to know your project manager personally will help facilitate strong communication between your team and theirs. Learning more about their process – and sharing more about yours – ensures everyone can contribute their best. Look for project managers who are reachable by phone as well as email.

Every project has the potential for surprise issues, but keeping the lines of communication open, remaining vigilant against schedule (and budget) drift, and establishing a clear understanding of final deliverables will help you sidestep the most common corporate translation failures.

Partner with our experienced, in-country linguists for your next corporate translation project. Contact Morningside today to learn how we can help.

You’ve probably used the word translation when you really meant localization – or even interpretation. And that’s OK. We’ll forgive it. You may have even heard someone use the word localization and wonder if they meant to say translation. We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt here – you’re right, they’re wrong.

Given the similarities in the terms, they’re often used interchangeably but there are actually important ways in which translation and localization differ. Here’s our translation vs. localization primer to help you keep them straight:

Translation

Translation is the process of converting written text or spoken words into another language. The completed translation should be the most accurate rendition possible of the source material — a “mirror-image” of the material that has been translated, except in a different language. However, this does not mean literal, word-for-word translation. (That’s what Google Translate is for!) An accurate translation requires changes in word order or sentence structure, and it requires choosing the most appropriate word in the target language when there is more than one option, as there often is.

Localization

In localization, translation is just the beginning. Content is not only translated into a foreign language, it’s also adapted to fit a foreign culture. Whereas translation deals primarily with texts and words, localization deals with text, but also graphics, symbols, dates and times, currencies, imagery, regional idioms and references, and so on. Localization requires a keen eye toward local sensitivities and is best applied by linguists who know the local culture and the target audience. Even the best translator with a firm grasp of linguistic nuance in the target language is not necessarily equipped with the knowledge to localize product labels, instructions for use, or marketing materials for a foreign country.

It’s more than written content that requires localization. Materials like videos, software, websites, employee manuals, learning and training courses and marketing materials all require a carefully thought out localization strategy in order to avoid embarrassing gaffes, serious injuries or worse.

So that’s the 101 level translation vs. localization course. If you have any additional questions or if you simply want to learn more about how to translate or localize your materials or content, Morningside’s experienced project managers and subject matter experts are always available. Contact us today.

Translating your website is the single most cost-effective way to reach global consumers and expand your brand overseas. Your approach, however, is extremely important – it can streamline the process or create time-consuming setbacks. Appropriate planning is an integral aspect of your site’s development and roll-out.

After 20+ years in the website translation services industry, we’ve learned a few tips and tricks to help our clients successfully transform potential language barriers into active revenue opportunities. So here are our top seven picks on how to prepare for a successful website translation project:

1. Let your translation company know how your website is (or will be) built

Your website’s platform can accelerate – or inhibit – the speed of translation. The structure of your site will dictate how your translation company manages the content.

Most CMS platforms (e.g. WordPress, Drupal, HubSpot) feature built-in content import/export functions, or can support multilingual plug-ins. For websites built on HTML, your translation company can translate the raw source files. Some websites may use a translation proxy, which means that when the foreign user accesses a page, the proxy replaces the original text with translations stored on a server.

Knowing how your site is or will be coded will help your translation company determine how to manage the project efficiently and cost-effectively from the outset.

2. Establish your update cycle

What kind of update cycle do you anticipate for your website? Will your site need frequent updates (such as in the case of eCommerce)? How often will translated pages need to be updated to match? Who will be tasked with managing the foreign language updates – will you handle it yourself, or offload to your translation company?

If your site will require frequent updates, outline your parameters and expectations early on, then share these with your translation company. Keeping your translation partner in the loop enables them to anticipate scheduled updates and ensure that appropriate resources are available to you.

3. Determine which pages require translation

Not all pages of your website may require translation. You may even choose to omit certain location- or culture-specific pages on foreign-language sites. Conduct a full content review of your site before enlisting a website translation services partner and assess which pages will require translation into other languages.

4. Review the appropriateness of your content for international markets

Certain phrases or references may make little or no sense to international users. For example, “toll-free numbers” or requests for “SSN” do not apply outside the United States and must be translated into their appropriate foreign-language counterparts if applicable to international users.

Determine if you want to replace certain information with new source text for the foreign site or if you should omit that section entirely. Identifying instances like these before beginning translation will enable you to provide new text or issue direction on how to handle these specific pieces of content.

5. Be aware that foreign languages usually occupy more space

In many languages, translated text expands – sometimes significantly. German, French, and Spanish all occupy 30-40% more space on a web page. If you are planning to translate your website’s content, let your web designer and developer know early on, so they can build in enough space for your site’s final translated content.

Using classes and IDs for text styles (not inline styling) makes it easier to adjust formatting. Ask your designer to show you versions of the design with 30-40% more characters to give you a sense of how your fully translated pages will look. Pay special attention to things like call-to-action buttons, which often have limitations on character count and may require you to substitute a different phrase.

6. Share foreign language SEO keywords with your translation company

If search engine optimization (SEO) is important for your international site, let your translation company know you plan to incorporate SEO keywords. Work with an SEO specialist to identify appropriate foreign-language keywords then provide this list to your translation company. Because specific phrasing is so vital to SEO, your website translator may opt to use the SEO keywords in specific places instead of direct translations to provide your site with greater SEO value.

One reason to engage in a long-term partnership with your translation company is that they can input your SEO keywords into a customized, client-specific term base to ensure consistency across your future web page translations.

7. Determine which of your media will require translation

Websites contain so much more than words and pictures. Many websites include downloadable PDFs, videos, charts, and other materials that may or may not require translation and corresponding re-designs. Your translation company can offer suggestions (such as removing printed text from an image) to enable greater flexibility.

Discuss how you will manage this content early in the process, so your website translation company can incorporate your needs into the project’s timeline and scope.

Are you planning a re-design for your multi-language website? Contact us to learn how our website translation services will help you establish a solid strategy.

For anyone getting ready to start translating their Flare projects, it can seem like a daunting task. It may have you asking a lot questions like: How does the translation process work? Do I need to use Lingo? What does a Flare translation project look like? Is my current Flare project set-up well for translation? Do I have to become an expert in publishing foreign language documents?

Morningside has been assisting clients with their Flare translation projects for over 15 years, and we understand all the particulars of the process. Here are some quick answers to help guide your initial steps:

How does the translation process work?

This will depend on the vendor you use for translation. For example, if you work with Morningside, you can send us your Flare project and let us know which targets you want to translate and which languages are required. We will determine which files are used by those targets and then translate those files directly. After translation, we will build the translated targets and have the outputs undergo Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA), to make sure that everything looks correct in context. Any issues will be resolved in the localized Flare files, and the final outputs will be built. We can deliver the localized Flare projects with fully finalized outputs that meet every specification and requirement you give us.

Note: Some vendors who don’t have localization engineers well-versed in Flare may not be able to build outputs or translate the Flare files directly.

Do I need to use Lingo?

No. While Lingo was originally created to process Flare projects for translation, it is entirely optional. It essentially serves to (1) determine which files need translation and (2) process those files for translation, two things that experienced vendors can already do without Lingo. Lingo actually adds an extra step in the process that we don’t need – although we can use it if requested to do so.

That being said, Lingo can be useful in the following situations:

• If you are working with a translation provider who doesn’t know Flare very well, Lingo allows them to still supply translations. The provider can translate XLFs exported from Lingo and hand them back to you, so that you can finish up the foreign language publishing work in Flare yourself.
• Lingo allows the client to view the contents of their Translation Memory (TM). You can create an empty TM in Lingo and fill it by importing TMX files that you’ve received from your translation provider. Then, the TM contents can be viewed, filtered, and searched.

What does a translated Flare project look like?

The best approach is to maintain a complete copy of the original Flare project in each language. The file naming convention and folder structure should be identical, so that no re-linking work is needed. All translated files should be completely translated, so you don’t have to keep track of or worry about translation gaps inside the files.

Is my current Flare project set-up well for translation?

Most of our clients author their Flare projects in English, and English is an extremely flexible language. Combine that with the flexibility and cool single-sourcing features in Flare, and you can get some very interesting and creative authoring! But some of that authoring is not ideal for translation into other languages. Here are some quick tips:

1. Don’t use common nouns inside of inline snippets or variables.
   By “common nouns”, we essentially mean the opposite of proper nouns. Common nouns are translated, such as “configuration”, “settings”, or “application.” In many languages, these common nouns may need to change spelling based on their part of speech, or the gender of the noun may have an impact on the words around it. It’s best to limit inline snippets or variables (anything that appears inside a larger sentence) to proper nouns only, or other things like phone numbers, emails, URLs or measurements.
2. Limit the use of inline conditional tags.
   Conditional tags can be very helpful, but overusing them inside a sentence can make the text hard to decipher. Try not to use more than two conditional phrases inside a sentence. Also, try to use conditional tags on self-contained phrases that don’t impact the rest of the sentence. For example, conditional tags are fine on a prepositional phrase such as “on the Settings page.”
3. For images with callouts, use MadCap Capture or use a table legend underneath the image.
   Localizing image text the traditional way － by typing out the text in Word, translating it, then pasting the translations into Photoshop or Illustrator－ can definitely be time-consuming. The first alternative is to add the text callouts using MadCap Capture. The callouts in MadCap Capture can very easily be translated with our translation tool, bypassing the usual copy/paste process and making image work much more efficient. The second alternative is to add numbered callouts to the image and then supply the legend for those callouts in the Flare topic itself. Using that approach, the legend can be translated with our usual process and we can skip all image work entirely.
4. Design tables with text expansion in mind.
   Most languages expand 30-40%, compared to the original English text. And, many languages, especially German and Russian, have longer words on average than in English. Making sure that there is sufficient room in your table columns to fit longer words and more text is always a benefit. Having that extra room for expansion will mean less work trying to get the translated text to fit.
5. Set page-breaking styles in the stylesheet and avoid forcing page breaks.
   Create rules for when page breaks are not allowed in the stylesheet, based on structural elements. Don’t only set these rules in specific locations in the English. The text flow can change dramatically in translation due to the text expansion mentioned above. So, if you are concerned about a page break on page 15 in English, that may not be a problem in Spanish – but Spanish might have an issue you didn’t foresee on page 17. Setting global rules based on structure can help reduce page-breaking issues in translation. Similarly, forcing page breaks in certain locations in English means that we are likely to see large empty spaces in weird places in translation. Instead of forcing page breaks where you want to see them, look at the situation differently, and AVOID page breaks where you don’t want them. For example, if you are tempted to add a page break before a paragraph that leads into a bulleted list to keep them from getting split up, instead add a “page-break-after: avoid” to that paragraph, to serve as a “Keep with Next” effect.

It’s important to  keep in mind that the above suggestions are tips for efficiency in translation. We understand that sometimes the English project requirements simply do not permit you to follow all those guidelines – and that’s okay. A knowledgeable translation service provider can translate any project, regardless of how well they follow the list above. Morningside, for example, offers the optional service of prepping your English Flare project for translation, then delivering it back to you, to help optimize the translation process before it starts.

Do I have to become an expert in publishing translated documents?

Not at all! That’s the beauty of a full-service Flare translation provider. You shouldn’t have to worry about which fonts are best for Traditional Chinese, how to fit an extra-long German word in a tight spot, where to insert line breaks for Thai, or how Right-to-Left languages like Arabic are supposed to appear. A good translation partner can produce PDFs ready to print or online layouts ready to publish.

Clients have been seeking Morningside’s expertise for their Flare translation needs for nearly two decades because they know we can simplify their process. So Contact Us to let us know what we can do to optimize your process today.

Translation accuracy is essential for almost all materials, but life sciences translations have increased potential for life-or-death outcomes, leaving no room for error. Although machine translation technologies have improved significantly in recent years, there is no substitute for human involvement in demanding applications like medical document translation.

Medical Documentation Translation Types and Uses

If there is a wide range of materials, machine-powered translation tools can quickly process large volumes of information to obtain the general meaning of a piece of content. Machine translation may be adequate for general materials like internal company communications.

However, most life sciences translation projects feature specific information that must be translated correctly and consistently or risk harm to patients or increased liability for the company. Such as,

• Informed consent forms
• instructions for use
• drug labels
• clinical trial documentation
• medical devices
• pharma applications
• hospital/clinic documents
• or other applied healthcare settings

These are all examples where medical documents require scrutiny by experienced human translators.

With medical content full of specific terminology, it is critical to establish terms for translators and reviewers to use. Using the correct language is an essential part of producing high-quality translations.

Linguist Subject Matter Expertise

Linguists involved in medical document translation projects should possess specific expertise in the field. At Morningside, we only hire experienced translators who can demonstrate a proven medical translation background. Many of our linguists possess more than medical translation expertise – some have worked directly in healthcare or were formally educated in the medical field. This level of specialized skill ensures that the linguists we assign to life sciences translations already possess deep knowledge of the project’s subject, context, and nuances.

Sometimes linguists with experience in specific therapeutic areas can be critical to a medical translation project. Translators with experience related to a particular type or category of disease or condition (ex., cardiology, Alzheimer’s Disease, diabetes, etc.) play an essential role in ensuring correct translation.

Ask about your translation partner’s quality management process

Every translation company has a different quality management process. To minimize risk and nonconformances in your final product, inquire about their approach before you engage. A good translation partner should be able to outline their process clearly. Here are some questions to ask:

1. How much experience do you require for linguists?
2. Do your translators possess any ancillary life sciences experience (ex. medical professional experience, life sciences degree, etc.)?
3. How many translators will review each document?
4. Do you use termbases/glossaries/other Translation Memory tools?

Meeting ISO Standards

Industry certifications further demonstrate controls to promote translation accuracy. ISO standards set out various business processes and best practices internationally agreed upon by experts. ISO standards for translation quality focus on establishing and maintaining a process of translation, review and approval that, when followed diligently by qualified professionals, will consistently result in reliable, accurate translations and meet the requirements of the customer’s use case.

ISO 17100 is an international quality standard set precisely for the translation industry. It defines the requirements for the core processes, resources and other aspects necessary for delivering a quality translation service. Certification to ISO 17100 showcases a translation company’s level of commitment to meeting client and industry requirements.

While ISO 13485 applies to quality management systems for medical device companies. It specifies requirements for a quality management system which requires an organization to demonstrate its ability to provide medical devices and related services, such as translation, that consistently meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements to remain compliant.

Morningside holds the above certifications and ISO 27100, which ensures Information Security – a critical designation when protecting valuable IP in life sciences. These certifications demonstrate the comprehensive quality protocols we maintain to support our human linguists.

Regulatory Expertise

In addition to experience in the specific aspect of the medical field or final application, linguists may also possess specialized regulatory knowledge essential for successful medical document translation.

Each country’s ministry of health is responsible for establishing language requirements for packaging, inserts, instructions for use, and more. In-country linguists familiar with local regulatory practices and requirements provide additional protection against language inaccuracies that could result in censure or require expensive re-printing.

It’s also common for medical document translation projects to include an In-Country Review (ICR) cycle, where the customer’s in-country teams review the content against their company’s style and branding guidelines, as well as for accuracy and regulatory compliance.

Peer Review and Correct Formatting

Due to the complex requirements of life sciences, medical document translation requires a minimum of two experienced linguists, often more. As a baseline, Morningside assigns at least one translator and one editor to each medical translation project.

We implement additional quality steps like linguistic review in-context and formal layout for more critical content such as CRO clinical trial documents.

Format-heavy applications, such as labeling, packaging, instructions for use, and medical device inserts, incorporate additional QA steps. We review language and layout, ensuring no information is cropped out or formatted in a way that may confuse or mislead end users.

Our team’s expertise with graphic design, technical authoring, and eLearning applications ensures a complete turnkey service solution for our clients. Though desktop publishing tools are an integral part of the document translation process, technology alone cannot guarantee that information is complete and correct. This is a skill that human translators can only perform.

Revealing Errors in Source Text

Human translators can also play a valuable role in identifying mistakes in the source text with potentially adverse consequences. For example, if the source text incorrectly reads “used test strip” instead of “unused” test strip, the translations will also be incorrect. Because there was no spelling or grammatical error in the text, a machine would likely overlook the mistake. Only a human translator could recognize the original text’s typo through the context of the material.

Spotting errors in the source text allows the company to make swift corrections before the incorrect text is translated into multiple languages.

Work with Experienced Medical Document Translators

When selecting the right translation company for your project, always opt for a partner with specific, verifiable experience in medical translation. Some companies offer medical document translation services but possess little practical experience in this highly specialized subset of translation services. There is no room for error or inaccuracy when the stakes are this high. Choose a translation company that genuinely understands the final end-use for each document.

Want to know more about what sets our medical document translation process apart? Contact Morningside today, and we’ll show you how we’re different.

About Morningside

Morningside, a Questel Company equips the world’s leading life sciences organizations with a full suite of end-to-end language solutions for their regulatory, clinical, commercial and patent needs. With over 4,000 clients in 55 countries, we’re globally recognized for our life science expertise and technology innovation across pharma, biotech, medical devices, and healthcare. Our life sciences translation services ensure your products and ideas seamlessly reach new markets and comply with all regulatory and cultural requirements through every stage of the product lifecycle — from patent to post-market.

Madeline Sturdivant

Madeline Sturdivant, Brand Marketing Manager at Morningside, a Questel Company, is an accomplished marketing professional with over six years of experience in digital marketing, branding, events, and strategic communications. She leads global marketing strategies, driving brand growth and managing multi-channel campaigns that connect with diverse audiences. Passionate about storytelling, Madeline excels in creating compelling content that resonates with customers and stakeholders. With a proven track record of enhancing brand visibility and fostering engagement, she leverages data-driven insights to craft strategies that exceed business objectives.

There are typically three important elements to consider for any translation project. These comprise the lens through which you should evaluate all document translation services partners:

1. Cost
2. Turnaround time
3. Quality

Each of these factors is individually important, yet all are intertwined. Balance will always be crucial, but the wrong partner can cause at least one of these elements to suffer, and the consequences may be dramatic. The most expensive partner may deliver higher-quality translations that could take too long to complete. Conversely, the cheapest, fastest provider may only achieve a low price point by cutting corners at the expense of translation quality. The goal, of course, is to ascertain which partner can provide the best quality translation in the fastest time at a reasonable price. So, here are some useful tips to zero in on the ideal partner for your business translation needs.

Where will your translated content be used?

The first thing to consider is exactly how your end translations will be used. What’s at stake if quality suffers? For example, translation quality issues in internal HR communications across international office locations may produce mild implications, whereas high-stakes applications such as user instructions for a medical device could endanger patient safety or lead to costly recalls. On the other hand, in high-volume applications such as legal discovery, your goal may simply be to achieve a general understanding of the contents of documents to determine which will require more detailed translation.

Ultimately, not all document translation needs are equal. Determining the initial and final applications for your translations will guide your priorities for speed, quality, and price.

Review the translation company’s level of experience & expertise

Experience and expertise are crucial when it comes to selecting the right document translation partner. Not only do these factors improve accuracy, but each variant impacts things like turnaround time and overall project management. Beyond a general professional track record, drill deeper to discover whether or not your document translation services provider has experience in your specific industry and target country, all well as controls in place to ensure quality and on-time delivery. Use these questions to probe whether or not they can truly deliver the service levels you require:

• How long have they been in business?
• How much experience do they have in your specific industry?
• Do they specialize in certain areas?
• What are their linguist qualifications? Is their QA process ISO-certified?
• Are their linguists based in-country where your translation/s will be used?
• Do their linguists possess special expertise/backgrounds in this subject matter?
• How do they track linguist performance?
• Can they provide references from current clients in industries similar to yours?
• Can you review translation examples from your industry or target country?

Benefits of centralizing your translation projects

Centralizing your translation projects with a single provider has several critical benefits:

The more your document translation services provider knows about your projects, the faster they can react to your requests and help you adopt a more proactive stance toward future translation needs. For example, an experienced partner can collaborate with you on style guides and termbases that improve consistency and turnaround times for upcoming projects.

Controlling the number of translation partners you engage with also delivers higher levels of consistency across all your translated documents (ex. website, marketing materials, manuals) and throughout the countries in which you operate.

Ultimately, it’s in your best interest to centralize your translation projects because using disparate vendors can create information silos that lead to inconsistencies, elevated costs, and redundancies.

Look for guidance in authoring content

Getting a head start on translation begins in the initial content creation stage, and quality translation partners can also help ensure your writing is authored for easy translation. Ask potential document translation services providers about their level of expertise in technical authoring and publishing software such as MadCap Flare. Can they provide best practices for creating translation-primed source content from the start?

Take advantage of machine learning & translation tools

Long-term relationships go beyond just understanding and anticipating your organization’s translation needs. Continual engagement with the same provider can deliver measurable cost- and time-savings benefits.

For example, Morningside uses advanced, client-specific Translation Memory tools, allowing us to leverage previous translations. Each client’s data set expands with use, further increasing the amount of content not requiring new translation. Sophisticated tools like these deliver greater consistency over time and across translated materials, while simultaneously lowering costs as the amount of content requiring new translation drops.

Time invested up-front pays off

Selecting the best document translation services partner(s) requires an initial investment of time and attention. Do the research, schedule the calls, ask questions and evaluate responses. High-quality translation companies will be happy to provide you with the depth of documentation and information you request. They understand the critical importance of balancing quality, turnaround time and cost, and they, too, want you to achieve the highest level outcomes.

Ready to streamline your next document translation project? Our experienced translators and project managers can help.

If you develop content that gets sent to technical document translation services, it’s important to understand how the writing and formatting of technical documentation affects the translation and localization process. It may not be as simple as you think. The translators and the translation company may actually have to put a lot of work into the project if the content isn’t clear and properly prepared for translation. Don’t worry though! Once you understand how your writing and design impacts the translation process, you can make changes to better prepare for translation. Following these writing tips for translation can help you improve the quality of the content, resulting in better translations, reduced costs and reduced turnaround time.

1. Use simple, clear phrasing

When writing for translation, use simple and clear phrasing. Choose words that are short and simple over longer, more flowery words. This will help reduce the number of words overall and make the translation more precise. Here’s a great resource with many examples of ways to rephrase things.

2. Use the active tense

Always use the active tense whenever possible. It’s more direct, so it’s easier to understand by both the end users and the translators. Reduced complexity means it’s easier to translate, and with fewer words, it should take less time.

For example, instead of writing: “The content was understood by the translator.” (passive)

Say: “The translator understood the content.” (active)

The end result is content that’s easier to understand and translate, and with a smaller word count.

3. Keep sentences as short as possible

Keeping sentences short may seem obvious, but it’s definitely easy as a writer to go on and on about how great a widget is and why you can never do without it because it will transform your life in so many different ways that I need to share with you and all you need to do is get one right now.

Whew! It’s hard to read all of that without taking a breath, right? It’s also hard to translate such an enormous sentence, so keep your sentences short. Also, some languages take up more space than English and you don’t want to run out of space for the translated content. So, make this your mantra: The fewer the words, the better.

4. Be consistent with terminology and content

If you don’t already have a list of product and/or industry terminology, create one for your translators to use — preferably before the project begins. They will translate these terms into your target languages and then in-country reviewers will approve them. Once that’s done, your technical document translation service will import the terms into its translation memory (TM) tool. This tool is extremely useful! It will show the translators the correct words to use for each term in each target language.

Also, reuse content wherever possible. For example, if a procedure is already documented in a manual, reuse that content. As a writer, it’s tempting to change what already exists to improve it, but it’s best to leave it alone. TMs are based on word segments, so even if you only change one word, it will impact the pricing. Ideally, you work with content that’s in a content management system (CMS), so you can easily identify which content to reuse. And even if you don’t use a CMS, you can still manually reuse content as your technical translation service will probably use a TM tool that can recognize the content as previously translated content. Reusing content increases consistency, and decreases costs and turnaround time.

5. Avoid noun strings

A sentence with too many nouns in a row can be hard to read and grasp right away. It can be especially hard to translate noun strings because the relationship to the nouns isn’t clear. As a result, the noun strings can be translated incorrectly. We recommend you rewrite noun strings to make the sentence clearer. For example:

• She started working on the localization mapping software project. (noun string)
• She started working on the localization project that involves mapping software. (reworded)

6. Don’t use abbreviations, jargon and cultural references

Avoid using abbreviations, jargon and cultural references, especially in technical content. This type of content may be understood by a particular region or culture, but other audiences may not understand it and it can be very difficult to translate. Many companies have made mistakes because they didn’t realize how their choice of words either wouldn’t translate directly or led to offensive translations.

7. Keep text separate from graphics

Translators need to be able to access the text inside graphics and screenshots. One way to handle this is to create separate text boxes for such text. Another option is to create callouts below the graphic. In both cases, the translator can access the content to translate it. If text isn’t accessible, it will require some desktop publishing (DTP) work by the translation company, which will add time and money to the project.

8. Allow room for text to expand

Translated content can take up to one-third more space than English, so you need to leave enough room for text expansion in tables, callouts, labels and other constricted areas. If you don’t address text expansion before sending the content for translation, you may end up with additional DTP charges.

9. Avoid manual formatting

We know it can be tempting to tweak formatting here and there to make things fit and look just perfect. But every time you override a style, for example, that means the localization team is going to have to look at that override and manually decide what to do with it. If you have to tweak the formatting a lot, you might want to change your styles.

10. Be aware that data formats may need to change

Dates, phone numbers, currencies and other types of data have different formats in other languages. Make sure these types of data are accessible so that the translators can make the necessary changes for their languages. For example, dates are written differently depending on where you’re from:

• In the US, a date is written with the month, day and year: 3/5/21(March 5th)
• In the UK, the day comes first, so March 5th is written as: 5/3/21

Also, if you reference any numbers like temperature or weight that are in imperial units, you need to add the metric equivalent as well since most countries use the metric system. It’s a pretty common practice to add the metric unit after the imperial unit, such as: 100 °F (38 °C).

Preparing your content benefits everyone

Spending some time thinking about translation as you develop and format content will benefit your English-speaking and global customers, while lowering your costs, reducing turnaround time and improving the translation quality. As a provider of technical document translation services, we’re here to help you with your translation needs. Please contact us for more information or to request a quote.

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on consumer behavior since the end of 2019. This past year, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of international eCommerce as forced lockdowns and social distancing restrictions kept people at home. In the United States, for example, COVID-19 encouraged 63% of consumers to buy goods online that they had not considered before the pandemic, and for millennials, this figure rose to 75%.

Globally, 2020 international eCommerce sales accounted for 17% ($3.9 trillion) of all retail sales worldwide – and that number is expected to more than double by 2027, in part due to the long-lasting impacts of social distancing around the world. One of those impacts has been an increase in cross-border online purchases — as it seems that while many people are still wary of entering physical stores, they show no apprehension about shopping online from businesses based outside their home country. Ultimately, many experts believe that pre-pandemic retail behaviors may never fully return, signifying the need for brick and mortar retail businesses around the globe to rethink and adapt their business models.

The role language plays in cross-border eCommerce

If you’re an American shopper purchasing textbooks from the UK, language won’t present a meaningful barrier. However, if you’re a Taiwanese shopper procuring clothing from an American retailer, a recent CSA Research report shows that language plays a much bigger role in purchasing decisions because 90% of Taiwanese online consumers prefer to shop on websites in their own language.

If your business plans to expand internationally, the ability to present your product or service to your target market in their native language must be a critical part of your expansion strategy. Translated content, however, must be treated with care. Anecdotes of poor translations – faulty to a laughable extent – are unfortunately all too prevalent in international eCommerce and business.

Successfully translating your online retail content

Successful translations will need to meet the target market’s expectations in two areas: function and culture. The functional content is easier to spot and deploy properly because it is logical rather than tradition-based. Examples include:

• Date and time format (12/26/20 versus 26/12/20)
• Telephone number format ((020) 123-4567 versus +4420 1234 567)
• Weights and measurements (pounds vs. kilograms, cubic centimeters versus fluid ounces)
• Currency (USD versus EUR)

The cultural aspect, however, is considerably more delicate. Successfully translated content must simultaneously meet cultural expectations while avoiding offense in relation to:

• Images and icons
• Humor
• Etiquette
• Values and beliefs
• Traditions

For a non-native speaker, mistakes are sometimes painfully easy to make. How would a French company know that to a Chinese person, dressing a bride in white is a no-no because wearing white is associated with funerals? Unfortunately, it’s just as easy to make culturally-insensitive linguistic errors. Therefore, when you are marketing a product or service overseas, translation alone isn’t enough. The methodology required is localization.

Translations that didn’t fly (literally)

Airlines deliver some superb examples of the hazards of translation without localization. In 1987, for example, Braniff Airlines touted its planes’ all-leather seats with the slogan “Fly in Leather.” Its print, television and radio ads gave the image of a high-class airline until it translated “in leather” to “en cuero” in a Spanish-language radio ad for the Florida market. While “en cuero” does technically mean “in leather,” in Spanish slang, it means “naked”. “Flying naked” is not quite the slogan that Braniff had in mind.

Another US airline made a similar error. The airline had been promoting its posh “rendezvous lounges” on its 747s. The campaign was successful until the promotion reached Brazil where, unfortunately, the Portuguese connotation of “rendez-vous” means a room rented out for prostitution. The Brazilians, understandably, were reluctant to board a plane boasting such amenities.

Successful localization at its best

Coca-Cola is the world’s largest and most successful beverage company. One reason for that is that Coca-Cola does a great job of localizing their message. For example, when Australia’s Share-a-Coke campaign went global, Coca-Cola understandably had to change the 150 most popular names in Australia to the 150 most popular names in Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom. Coke did their homework and in doing so, they recognized that localization sometimes goes beyond just the name changes. In China, for example, Coke bottles sported common nicknames like Classmate and Close Friend instead of first names due to the sheer volume of first name options. Instead, they selected nicknames and compliments popular on Chinese social media. This move proved a hit with Chinese youth and led to a significant spike in Coca-Cola sales in the Chinese market.

Think globally, act locally

Investing in translation and localization can help you reach global consumers, expand your market share overseas, and diversify by becoming less dependent on the US domestic market alone.

If you want to learn more about our professional localization services, contact us here.

In today’s global economy, manufacturers often need to prepare technical translations of product instructions (i.e. MSDS’s, technical manuals, user guides) in multiple languages for markets around the globe. This is necessary when a single country has more than one national or commonly spoken language, such as English and Spanish in the United States, or when a company is trying to break into a new foreign market. When translating technical documents, the core of the task is to faithfully convert the words from one language into another so that consumers and local vendors clearly understand how a product works. To guarantee that translations successfully convey the intended meaning, best practice requires the use of professional technical translation services with technical reviewers who are also subject matter experts (SME). An SME helps ensure the accuracy of the final technical translation (e.g. user manual or operator’s guide), and can also help identify issues that may exist with the original documentation.

Engineer-written documentation

Manufacturers are increasingly asking engineers to write user instructions for the products they’ve developed. On one hand, this makes perfect sense. The engineers know the products inside-out, so they can quickly put the instructions together, and there’s no need to spend additional money outsourcing the project to technical writers. On the other hand, a technical document produced by engineers can prove more difficult for the end user to understand and follow. Here’s how:

• Accuracy – The engineer’s area of expertise is engineering – not writing. Engineer-written text may contain grammatical errors or irregularities that even the most determined consumer will struggle to understand.

• Exclusion – It’s not uncommon for an engineer to consider a product’s features and uses to be self-evident, because, to an engineer, they are. It can be difficult for an engineer to accurately identify all the features and concepts that require explanation for an end user.

• Jargon – Engineers may use terminology that a user will not easily recognize.

Improving user manuals with SME’s

Technical translation services can connect you with an SME who is capable of extracting the intended meaning from the original document and deliver it with enhanced clarity in the target language. He or she will understand the subject well enough to recognize when an explanation is insufficient or irrelevant for end users, and can make any necessary refinements. Essentially, an SME translator may need to perform two technical translations:

• one from engineer-speak to user-speak; and

• one from the original language to the target language.

A strong relationship that allows two-way communication and collaboration between the manufacturer and the technical translation service can significantly streamline the document translation process. Technical translation services can help by:

• Providing instruction for engineers who are writing user manuals, or assisting them in the use of Simplified Standard English (STE), a form of writing designed to produce translation-ready text.

• Making sure the engineers have the tools they need to produce a consistently formatted original that follows the manufacturer’s style guide.

• Cleaning up original text to resolve any potential problems prior to technical translation.

Translating text within technical art

An especially difficult issue when translating user documentation is translating the text within technical art, such as figures, diagrams, illustrations, or any other type of embedded graphics. These may have been authored in specialized formats produced by computer-aided design (CAD) software, vector illustration, spreadsheets, or photography applications. A technical translation agency can help devise strategies for translating such text and meticulously preserving its meaning in the target language.

Good technical documentation results in a better user experience

Ease-of-use of a manufacturer’s product is one of the critical ingredients in a positive customer relationship. This leads to repeat business and recommendations that help the manufacturer maintain a reputation for excellence. Putting effort into high quality technical translations that help ensure a rewarding user experience is more than just something a manufacturer is expected to do — it’s a shrewd long-term strategy for success in international markets.

It isn’t uncommon for international corporations to employ an assortment of law firms or outside counsel to meet different local and regional legal needs. In doing so, a significant amount of money will inevitably be spent on legal translation strategy and services for cross-border or multi-country dealings.

Often, corporations leave these legal translations to their outside counsel to handle. While this may seem the simplest solution, it forfeits an opportunity to simultaneously keep costs under control, improve efficiency and data security, and ensure absolute quality across all legal translations. This is where a centralized language service provider (LSP) can make all the difference.

Three downsides to uncoordinated legal translations

A corporation that allows outside counsel to handle its legal translation work faces three distinct challenges:

1. Cost — We know of corporations whose network of third-party attorneys contracted up to 140 different translation services in 2021 alone. That’s a significant annual spend! Unfortunately, with translations spread out this way, a corporation has no visibility into cumulative expenditures – let alone an opportunity to benefit from the discounts that such a hefty billing should merit.
2. Quality — With each law firm (presumably) vetting and hiring its translators, the corporation cannot guarantee consistent terminology or accuracy in the translations upon which its business activities heavily rely. In addition to bearing the potential for undermining the success of current activities, inaccurate translations in legal documents can lead to significant problems in the future and potentially hurt your corporation’s reputation. As it has been proven time and time again, word choice can mean everything in litigation, and with each local law firm hiring a different translator, the corporation lacks the means to mitigate such risks comprehensively.
3. Vetting — Lastly, there is no way to be confident that third-party agents are selecting translators strictly based on quality and pricing and not due to some unstated relationship that has nothing to do with the corporation’s interests.

Five benefits of a consolidated legal translation strategy

Corporations that choose to consolidate their legal translation services under a single LSP benefit in the following five ways:

1. Translation projects gain enhanced transparency — On a micro-level, the corporation gains the ability to track the progress of translations during production and to make last-minute changes should a legal strategy shift occur. On a macro level, the large amount of work being tracked across the organization, when combined, can qualify for significant cost savings.
2. Accountability becomes straightforward — By selecting a certified translation service with rigorous internal quality control processes, the corporation recovers control of translation quality, thus ensuring that all legal translations are produced at the highest level and with the maximum protection as they guard against future issues.
3. The corporation gains control of consistency — Corporations can work with LSPs to create customized glossaries that will ensure the constant and correct use of preferred terminology for products and other standard references in every relevant language.
4. Translation memory discounts — Over time, an LSP will be able to incorporate dedicated translation memory tools for further cost reduction through efficiently re-using previously translated material. The longer the relationship between the corporation and the LSP, the larger the company’s translation memory grows and the greater the savings that can be achieved.
5. Centralized & easily repeatable processes — An LSP’s account services may be able to lead the corporation through each project, consulting on best practices and providing advice that helps ensure friction-free, strong, and successful legal translations.

Taking control of translations

International corporations who use outside counsel can make use of these benefits without causing any complex internal changes or creating any additional work for counsel. Choose a reliable and experienced LSP to handle organization-wide translations and then tell each law firm under contract to obtain all future legal translation services from that LSP. Outside counsel can instruct the LSP on your behalf, which will immediately achieve greater efficiency, consistent quality, and cost savings for your corporation.

About Morningside

Morningside, a Questel Company is a recognized leader in comprehensive legal language solutions and eDiscovery services for the legal industry. We provide the world’s largest law firms and corporate legal departments with a full suite of services, ranging from legal document translation, contracts and compliance documentation to full-scale multilingual litigation requiring certified translation and foreign language document review to supporting complex eDiscovery projects. We deliver customized legal document translation solutions based on your case’s size and budget requirements, utilizing industry-leading technology to ensure accuracy, lower costs and faster turnaround times. Find out why 97% of the Am Law 200 and 90+ leading global brands rely on Morningside.

Dylan Blaney

Dylan Blaney, Vice President of Business Development, Morningside, a Questel Company, is responsible for the company's global legal translation strategy and maintaining relationships with the world's largest corporate legal departments and law firms. Dylan expertly advises law firms and corporations on best legal translation practices, specifically implementing workflows and technology that reduce cost, improve quality, and accelerate deadlines. He specifically focuses on international litigation & arbitration, FCPA, patent litigation, M&A, internal corporate communication & documentation to ensure adequate global communication in the legal marketplace.