Technical manual translation: why it's critical for your international business

In many ways, you do not want your technical manual to stand out. You want reading it and understanding it to be a completely natural experience for someone from your target culture.

This will always mean using a professional technical manual translator. Otherwise, you risk falling afoul of the many challenges involved in translating technical content.

Here, we will look at some of those challenges. As well as how you can overcome them:

What is technical manual translation?

Technical manual translation involves localising product manuals from one language into another.

The “technical” aspect refers to the fact that manuals of all kinds will include terminology with specific meanings which need to be understood by someone who reads it in precise detail.

A reader should be able to follow instructions or information in technical content to the letter if needs be. This might be important for personal safety, or simply to get the best out of your product.

To translate a document like this accurately, a linguist must be an expert in the subject matter. Because in technical translation, there is no room for ambiguity.

The importance of tone

Yet on the other side of the coin, a technical document translator also needs to be a good writer. Because, yes – part of their task is to transmit the information in the document with precision.

But their other vital job is to retain the style and tone of the original document while adapting it. The aim is for the original and translated versions to convey the same message in the same tone to readers from different target cultures.

For technical content, this tone will usually be a completely objective one. It might also be the tone regularly used in your field or which your brand guidelines specify.

Types of manuals which need to be translated

Some of the most common types of document which require this kind of translation include:

• Instruction manuals
• Product manuals
• Operation and Maintenance Manuals (OMM)
• Technical drawings
• User guides

Technical manual translation – the challenges involved

Technical manual translation is a demanding task. It calls for expert project management and a great deal of language and subject matter expertise on the part of the chosen linguists.

They need this in order to overcome issues such as:

1) The legal question

Many countries and regions have specific legal requirements when it comes to product and safety manuals. Understanding how these differ between regions is vital when you are conducting business internationally.

These requirements will almost always include manuals being available in the national or official languages of those regions:

• It is a legal requirement in most parts of Canada that text in all product manuals are available in French and English, for example.
• The EU also has specific rules when it comes to the languages which product documentation must be available in.

There is also the danger that a poor translation of a technical document such as product instructions or a safety guide may leave a company open to later legal action. For instance, if a consumer manages to injure themselves while following vague instructions.

This means that a manual needs to be incredibly clear and precise in the language it uses. There can be no room for interpretation.

2) The culture question

A direct translation of a certain word, term or phrase might mean something very different to someone from a different culture.

What is considered polite by someone from one culture might mean nothing to someone from another. It might even be actively offensive.

Consider the example of an image on the front of a set of toy instructions which involves a child being patted on the head. This presents a positive idea in many parts of the world. In others, it is considered rude to touch a child on the head.

This means that a technical translator needs to consider tone, syntax and context amongst many other factors when localising a manual. Don't forget that this goes beyond the words which are used.

3) The terminology question

Every industry has its own specific terminology and jargon. In some fields, this isn't necessarily shared by everyone in the industry in different parts of the world. For instance, medicine and healthcare requires specialist translators for this very reason.

In some manuals, there may be an active need to avoid jargon for the sake of clarity. In others, the precise choice of technical word or phrase will be vital.

4) The formatting question

Accounting for things like text expansion and contraction during translation between languages plays a key role in ensuring a product manual is readable.

Imagine a product manual being translated from English to German. The text is likely to expand as much as 10-35% in length. This can result in serious misalignment of words, diagrams, schematics and so on if formatting is not carefully considered.

The benefits of using a professional technical translator

In addition to making overcoming the above challenges far easier, using a professional technical translator ensures that you:

1) Have efficient workflows

When you are marketing your products overseas in numerous different regions, workflows can become confusing.

Using highly experienced professional translators managed by a single Language Service Provider (LSP) with expertise in the area keeps everything smooth and centralised.

2) Translate any documentation

Technical manual translation might involve the localisation of images, CAD diagrams, Adobe FrameMaker files, online versions and much more.

Using a professional linguist ensures that any and all documentation can be translated correctly. This isn't something you can trust to a bilingual staff member, for example.

3) Get the right length

The length of your technical manual is very important. It ensures you have the right balance between readability and necessary information.

A manual which is too long risks being ignored, skim-read or confusing. A manual that is too short risks omitting important details.

 

Professional technical manual translation shows your clients that you are thinking about their needs. Or, often more accurately, it ensures their experience of reading your manual is so seamless they never consider that you might not be.

4) Adapt to local cultures

We've already touched on the challenges involved in adapting technical terminology so that it can be understood by someone used to the norms of another culture. Direct translation is rarely going to be enough to accomplish this.

 

But it is worth underscoring the fact that relying on a bilingual team member or another non-professional for this sort of task risks serious damage to your brand reputation as well as legal harm.

 

Technical manuals do not usually use everyday terms. Yet a reader needs to be able to understand them completely in order to learn how to use, repair or care for a product.

5) Protect your brand

It's not just a matter of a precise translation of your technical manuals being necessary for legal reasons. Your reputation is almost as important.

In the digital age, where negative reviews of your products and services can spread around the world incredibly quickly, protecting your brand from this kind of harm should be foremost in your mind when doing business internationally.

In the best case, you might find that a poor translation leads to results which people find amusing or silly. That isn't the best reputation for a brand to have.

In worse cases, you risk consumers having a poor experience with your product because of an inaccurate or confusing translation of your manual and leaving bad reviews because of it.

Using the right technology

Using the right professional is an important step. Making sure they have access to the right translation tools and technology is another.

There are several key tools and pieces of technology which will be vital aids or potentially helpful additions to the localisation process:

1) A glossary of terms

A glossary of terms contains a list of agreed translations for certain words, terms or phrases which are likely to appear in a document. These might include:

• Industry-specific terminology
• Product-specific terminology
• Branded or brand-specific words and phrases

Making sure that these terms are translated accurately is all the easier when they have been discussed with your Language Service Provider beforehand.

2) Translation Memories

A Translation Memory (often abbreviated as TM) is essentially an always on-call database of already-translated terms which your linguist can call on as they work.

When an already-translated segment appears in a document again, a TM will automatically prompt your technical translator to use the previous translation. This saves a great deal of time and effort as well as ensuring words and phrases are translated consistently across the document – and across projects.

It is also possible that your LSP will offer you money off translation costs for segments which are handled automatically by a TM tool.

What's more, as technical manuals often contain repeated sentences and segments, they are the ideal candidates for Translation Memories to really come into their own.

3) Machine Translation

Machine Translation (usually abbreviated as MT) is a potential option for some technical manual translation.

Today, there are several types of MT engine available. From the original rules-based kind to statistics-based engines to those which use very modern machine learning-based approaches. There are also various hybrids.

Machine Translation is a valid approach for many purposes. However, especially for technical content, it is important to:

1. Use a custom MT engine which has been specifically trained on data in the right field.
2. Always have your MT engine's output post-edited by a professional human translator.

In general, MT tends to be more suitable for high volumes of content which are of relatively low value. Translating client reviews, for example. For high-value documents, the necessary level of human post-editing means it is usually better to use a human from the very beginning.

Nevertheless, Machine Translation technology has advanced hugely in recent years. As long as your LSP is an expert in MT engine training, it may well be worth asking if this might be a cost-effective approach when translating your technical documents.

Choosing the right technical manual translator

A technical translator's job is a difficult one. They need to localise often complicated – or at least very precise – content for people from a different culture. They need to ensure that it can be understood and is culturally appropriate for that audience.

At the same time, they need to have an eye on the tone and whether the translated text accurately conveys the same information as the original when different cultural norms and expectations are borne in mind.

When choosing a technical manual translator, you should always look for:

1. Subject matter expertise: for example, using technical translators who have a minimum of five years of experience or Masters degree-equivalent qualifications in the field on any project.
2. Company-specific expertise: or, more accurately, a clear willingness to learn about how your brand. This is where briefing your LSP and either providing a Glossary of Terms or working together to produce one is important. Ideally, you want your technical translator to understand your brand voice and message.
3. Culture-specific expertise: it's not just a case of localising for language. You need to localise for culture. For instance, the cultures of Mexico, Spain, Cuba and Argentina have major differences – despite the vast majorities of their populations all speaking the same language. You should always ensure your LSP is intimately familiar with the culture you are localising your content for.