subject: Understanding Technical And International Translation Services [print this page] Growing a global business isnt only about translating and localizing your sales and marketing material for target languages in other countries. In fact, some of the largest business translation projects going today center on technical translation services. International translation services even have processes which are designed for large, technical translation documents.
Application developers and software as a service (SaaS) providers all face daunting translation tasks when it comes to international expansion. From large technical spec documents to training material and legal language, major firms invest thousands every year in ensuring the crucial nuts-and-bolts aspects of their business are translated clearly and accurately in languages all over the world.
Imagine all of the aspects of a global business that require technical translation services. Not only do help files and user manuals need international translation services, but even the back-end systems which allow administrators to operate localized versions of apps and software require precisely translated documents. Many of these translation documents can exceed a half-million words and occupy thousands of hours of intense translation and editing.
Fortunately, technical translation services leverage a wide range of technology to help smooth the process. One of these approaches involves the machine translation of technical documents. Machine Translation (MT) is a computer-generated attempt to match the language output that human translators perform. While MT lacks the nuanced comprehensive powers of the human brain, it can use sophisticated software to chew through large amounts of content in translation.
While a human translator may successfully translate 1,000 to 3,000 words-per-day with a high accuracy rate, a machine-translation process with human post-editing can more than double productivity while achieving adequate linguistic quality. Expert international translation services rely on a hybrid solution: Machine translation with pre- and post-editing is a methodology in which a linguist trains or programs the machine-translation engine to correctly translate context-specific terminology, phrases with double meanings and case-based client exceptions to rules where the MT platform may have otherwise made a mistake.
Leveraging technical solutions to technical document translation makes sense. In cases where clarity is more important than tone or wit, as is often the case with large-scale technical translation, machine translation can add a high degree of consistency to the language.
International translation services focusing on the translation of technical documents can not only enhance the quality of your product or service for international users, but it can also speed new products to market and help you simultaneously ship large, complex technical projects in multiple new markets. Dont be afraid of the size, scope, or technical nature of your business in terms of translation needs. Rest assured there are international translation agencies who have navigated these projects in the past, and are more than capable of leveraging a wide range of custom solutions to launch your company in the global marketplace.
