How to help your translator deliver the best manual, faster

I’ve translated roughly 930 manuals, and experience shows that client collaboration can greatly improve quality and speed. What can you do to get the best translation and shorten turnaround?

1. Take the time to find the right translator
   In technical manuals, understanding the subject is non-negotiable. Don’t waste time on non-specialists—you’ll lose time and money (or worse, expose users to accidents and legal claims). Many clients contact me after poor experiences with underqualified translators. Is that a risk you want to take?

2. Provide as much reference material as possible
   For example, previously translated manuals for similar machines, links to useful web resources, product brochures, CAD screenshots, etc.

3. Allow sufficient time
   A professional translator typically translates about 4,000 words per day. A long manual for a complex machine may require several weeks.

4. Send the original editable files
   Professional translators handle many formats. Don’t copy/paste text out of the source—extracting and reinserting text later can be surprisingly time-consuming.
   Example: if you need a website translated, don’t send a Word file with copied text—send the HTML files. I routinely work with InDesign, FrameMaker, HTML, XML, etc.

5. Glossaries
   Ideally, you already maintain a glossary of key terms with definitions. If not, ask the translator to create one. A living, maintained glossary pays off enormously in long-term quality.

6. Plan for text expansion in the layout
   Other languages may take more or less space. As a rule of thumb, Spanish is ~20% longer than English. Romance languages (Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese) are similar; differences can be larger in other languages (e.g., Hebrew is very compact).
   Also consider page sizes: much of the world uses DIN A4, while the US Letter size is standard in the United States and parts of the Americas.

7. Encourage questions
   Accurate translation requires full understanding of the source. Even experienced professionals will have questions (e.g., an acronym, a suspected source error). In all cases, it’s worth listening and taking a moment to answer—your manual will be better for it.

© 2025 Alejandro Moreno Ramos, www.ingenierotraductor.com