Technical Document Translation 101
For organisations in technical sectors like medical, engineering, automotive, manufacturing and beyond, technical document translation plays a critical role. But, what exactly is technical translation, and how best should your organisation approach it?
As technical translation specialists, who have been supporting organisations in these sectors for over 35 years, we know a thing or two about translating technical content. So, read on to learn more about technical translation, the approach we believe produces the greatest results for our clients, and more.
Defining technical translation
Technical translation is a professional practice whereby linguists work to transfer the meaning of source language technical texts, into another, or several other languages.
Different to creative or more general translation, technical document translation projects tend to contain technical terminology that is often highly specific or unique to the sector, and require a higher level of translator skill and sector experience.
While LSPs differ, technical content may typically span:
- Technical manuals
- Technical brochures
- Datasheets
- Specifications
- Training/e-learning materials
- Video subtitles
- Technical website and marketing content
- Software/app content
- Presentation slides
The importance of technical document translation
For organisations in all kinds of technical sectors, the translation of your technical content could make or break your international success.
High-quality, accurate technical document translation can help you to:
- Gain access to new international territories.
- Increase sales of your products and recognition of your brand internationally.
- Support your regulatory compliance.
- Develop your relationship with your international audiences, building loyalty and positioning.
- Improve user/customer experience.
- Safeguard product user safety.
- Provide training for international and non-native speaking staff.
- Provide communication, contracts and more for international and non-native speaking staff in their language.
Without a trusted LSP and high-quality technical document translation service you can rely on, your organisation is limited to selling in the UK (or your native country), or risks leaving itself open to the potentially disastrous consequences of inaccurate translation.
The cost of low-quality translation
Technical translation mistakes, low-quality translations conducted by unvetted freelancers or those generated by AI models, could have very real repercussions for your organisation.
- Poor translation could lead to confused users who struggle to use your product.
- Translation mistakes or vague/imprecise translated output could lead to the injury or even death of end users.
- Poor quality translation could hinder your reputation, market positioning, and sales internationally.
- Using unvetted freelancers or AI models could risk producing low quality output, breaching confidentiality agreements, failing to correctly use brand and sector-specific terminology and beyond.
This is why it’s so important to choose human technical document translation services from a trusted LSP. At Andiamo!, even the machine translation service we offer for some technical projects, is post-edited by skilled, human, sector-specialist translators. More on this later.
Our approach to technical document translation
At Andiamo! we use only the most skilled, experienced, vetted technical translators, who have passed our rigorous assessment criteria.
More than skilled translators, all our freelance linguists have trained or worked in the sectors we specialise in. This enables us to offer technical document translation experts, working in over 140 languages, who are specialists in technical medical, automotive, manufacturing or engineering translation.
We offer an end-to-end translation service, with a dedicated typesetting team able to transform your translated brochure and manual output, into its final reader and print-ready format.
For appropriate projects, we offer an MTPE service, where machine translated output is post-edited by our skilled, sector-specialist translators. This service offers a quality close to that achieved by human translation, at a faster rate, and for less.
All technical document translation projects receive in-house QA checks by human linguists using specialist QA software, and we utilise CAT tools and translation memory software to support translation consistency and offer cost savings over time.
Why Andiamo?
When you work with Andiamo, you can rest assured that technical translation specialists, and sector-specialist translators are working to support your organisation and its international growth.
We provide you with a dedicated project manager to guide the timely completion of your projects and act as your point of contact for any query you may have.
Beyond our 35+ years of experience, we hold multiple ISO certifications (ISO 9001:2015, ISO 17100:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 13485:2016), and are audited externally to maintain these standards and demonstrate our commitment to quality.
Contact our team today to discuss your technical document translation projects and learn how we can support you.
