Whether you are selling a consumer good like air fryers or maybe a product as complex as medical equipment for the life sciences setting, then you likely provide technical documentation as a helpful resource for proper care and use. Technical documentation touches nearly every industry and is responsible for instructing, guiding, sharing, explaining or troubleshooting to help an end-user with a product or service. As an international organization preparing technical documentation for products or services, you must consider the impact of technical documentation translation.
Whether your organization is expanding into a new territory or releasing a new product in an already familiar market, high-quality and accurate technical documentation translation will be vital to communicate with your global market. This means an international brand will require all technical documentation to be translated into each of the different languages that support the various territories your product or service appears.
The Big Dilemma
Where many organizations run into questions or require more intensive and intentional support is choosing a proper language service provider (LSP) for expert translation. It is not a minor decision, as selecting the right LSP for the job requires considering several elements to properly assess an LSP for your technical documentation translation, including quality, cost, and turnaround time. The goal, of course, is to ascertain which partner can provide the best quality translation in the fastest time at a reasonable price.
Without considering every element, your organization could be subject to translation mishaps. An LSP that promises inexpensive and quick translation may not employ the most stringent quality standards. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, an LSP that employs intensive processes may have a turnaround time that is too slow to meet your project deadline.
Technical documentation, and honestly, anything with your organization’s name or logo on it, represents your organization, therefore it should uphold your reputation, strengthening your international presence and accessibility while meeting all of your project needs. Equal thought and consideration must go into both the source and target language. Whether or not translations are required by regulation, they are typically necessary for the user experience, and high-quality translations are essential.
A Helpful Tool: Technical Documentation Translation Ultimate White Paper
With that in mind, we have developed an extensive white paper to support your selection of a professional LSP, as not all LSPs are made equally. Our white paper will help you find an LSP that employs rigorous standards and translators with expertise in your industry and subject matter. This resource’s goal is to help ensure that your translations will always be as effective as the source version, delivered on time and at a manageable cost.
Our new white paper, “The Ultimate White Paper: Choosing a Reliable Translation Partner for Technical Documentation,” covers the following:
- The importance of technical documentation
- If you should translate your technical documents
- Recommended qualifications for translators
- Translation process and tools to an expert from your language services provider
- The importance quality plays in technical documents
Choosing a suitable LSP is a crucial step in communicating with international markets. With the help of this white paper, you can approach skilled technical documentation translation companies with experience in the field most relevant to you and meet all of the standards you require. The right LSP for you will be able to consider many factors that will impact the success of your technical documentation translation project, such as cultural nuances, industry-specific technical terms, the local dialect, formatting and styling.
The Core Objective of Handling Technical Documentation Translation
When handling technical documentation translation, the core objective is accurately converting the information from one language to another — presenting everything in an easy-to-read and usable format in each target language. Best practices necessitate professional technical document translation partners with subject-matter expertise, language expertise, and experience in authoring tools. Doing so can help guarantee that translations appropriately convey all intended meanings in the proper format.
Any professional LSP should be able to handle various kinds of technical documentation translation. Our white paper will help you look for someone who can manage all your documentation to reduce costs. Whomever you partner with for your technical translations should be upfront about their commitment to quality and the tools they employ to reduce turnaround time and save the bank.
This white paper covers independent audits an LSP should use for quality systems to rigorously vet their subject matter experts and translators, such as ISO 9001, 13485 and 17001. When quality is a primary focus for translation projects, it helps ensure accuracy and smooth implementation from initial requests through on-time delivery. Our ultimate white paper will ensure you understand the importance of these factors and that you can consider them thoroughly.
Best practices recommend using an LSP with translator certification and accreditation to ensure a high level of professional experience. Ask if your language services partner can provide translators who specialize in your specific area of need. The more specialized the translator, the more likely you will receive the highest quality localized product.
And lastly, centralizing your technical documentation translation projects with a single provider has several critical benefits. Controlling the number of translation providers you engage with delivers higher levels of consistency across all your translated documents throughout the countries where you operate. Ultimately, centralizing your translation projects is in your best interest because using disparate vendors can create information silos that lead to inconsistencies, elevated costs, and redundancies.
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-saving benefits. Sophisticated tools like these provide greater consistency across translated materials while lowering costs and turnaround times as the amount of content requiring new translation drops.
An Expert Technical Documentation Translation Partner
At Morningside, we take pride in offering highly professional technical translation services to customers around the globe, and we’re here to assist you along the way. It’s never too early to prepare and plan for localization. How a document is written, and formatted will directly impact the time and money it takes to translate it. Contact us today to learn more about how you can save time and money with our ISO-compliant localization services. You can download our white paper now for choosing a reliable translation partner for technical documentation, or contact us today get started on your next project.
About Morningside
Morningside, a Questel Company, equips leading organizations with accurate, high-quality, professional translation services. We specialize in highly regulated industries, including legal, life sciences, corporate compliance and IP. We help your ideas reach new markets and audiences while allowing you to do more with your budget. Our global network of 8,000+ vetted translators includes subject matter experts (SMEs) in various technical fields and practice areas. Morningside is supported by industry-leading technology and a quality management system certified to the latest ISO 9001, 13485 and 17100 standards. We translate complex materials into 200+ languages for Global 500 companies, international law firms, and regulatory bodies.
Madeline Sturdivant, Brand Marketing Manager at Morningside, a Questel Company, is an experienced marketing professional with five years in multiple disciplines, including digital, print, event, and strategy. She is responsible for the company's global marketing activities and managing relationships with the world's largest and most demanding healthcare, legal, and corporate organizations. Madeline's varied personal and professional interests drive her to continually expand her knowledge to benefit those around her.