Important things to know before sending a text out for translation

If your company is going international for the first time, it can be difficult to figure out where to start and how to get your texts translated. I can tell you this much: simply sending a text out to a random translator and hoping for the best is never a good idea. In this post, you will find useful tips on how to prepare your texts in a way that will reduce costs and unexpected additional workloads.

Think translation right from the start

There are some things you should consider when writing a text that you already know will be translated into one or more languages:

Write internationally

Avoid references to sports, TV shows and other cultural aspects that might be specific to your country. If they are little to unknown in the countries where the translations will be read, they will only confuse readers instead of amusing them or providing them with useful context. They would need to be replaced by an adequate reference in the translation or be cut from the translation entirely.

A picture says more than a thousand words

Are you providing instructions? Great! Make sure to illustrate your manuals with photos, screenshots or drawings to improve understanding and shorten your descriptions. This has various advantages: readers will understand your instructions better and make fewer mistakes. Your translator will understand your product better and be able to provide a higher-quality translation. And, as the cherry on top, your texts will be shorter, which means lower translation costs.

Write for your channel

Different channels impose different requirements on texts—an internet blog post is very different from technical documentation. Make sure to use the right style and formatting; this will also help your translator find the right words.

Don’t forget to edit before sending

Your text was written long ago without originally intending to have it translated? Then a quick edit and check for the items above is definitely a good idea. But even if you have already optimised your text for translation while writing, you should have a brief look at the following aspects before sending it out:

Does everything need to be translated?

Check your text to see whether everything in the document is relevant to the readers of the translation. If not, shorten the text to save unnecessary translation costs. (But make sure that the shortened text still makes sense and don’t forget to send the translator the full version for reference.)

Has the text been finalised?

Make sure that the text you are about to send out for translation has been finalised. If you know that there will be some minor or even major updates shortly, it is better to wait for a few more days. Translators usually charge extra for changes to texts after they have started working on them, especially when they were unaware of this.

What now?

Your text is now prepped and ready for translation. Congratulations! But where do you go from here? How do you find the right translator, how do you check their qualifications? What do you need to know about commissioning a translation? And which information does a translator need to be able to do a good job? These are topics I will look into in my next posts in October and November.