User Manual Translations
User manual translations play an important role in a multi-region and multinational business environment, where in user manuals are either published in the native language of the parent company or/ and in English. Perhaps, for a large chunk of the workforce or users that don’t comprehend English, let alone the native language of the home country of the company, reading such user translations become an obvious challenge.
Not taking the efforts to translate user manuals may have large scale implications when it comes to adherence to the standard workflows, and processes, user preferences, or consequences alike. Hence, companies must invest efforts, time, and resources in translating user manuals, and helping users understand, follow, and comply better with the work processes.
Filose, one of the leading translation and localization companies, offers user manual translations for over 100 Indian as well as foreign languages, for a slew of products as well.
What are User Manuals?
One can technically describe user manuals as written guides in the form of a hard or an electronic document format that facilitates instructions to the reader on a particular process, or guidelines on the process of using, creating or operating something, for instance, using a shop floor machine, or operating a home appliance, etc.
As the outreach of user manuals is relatively large, the translation must be locally accurate, relevant, and understandable. Well-written, and later, well-translated user manuals play an instrumental role in educating users about processes, product features, and using them correctly, and optimally in their language.
For instance, for a product made in Germany, it is quite natural for the user manual to be published in German. But, if the company intends to take the same product to say Japan, besides localizing the product, it is also necessary to publish the user manual in Japanese. The same goes with expanding to other geographies across the world, and within the country as well. For example, if a company plans to take a product manufactured in Tamilnadu to Maharashtra, it will have to translate its user manual in Marathi to ensure local resonance.
What Elements of User Manuals must be Translated to make the Translation more Effective?
Translating user manuals isn’t only about translating content, but about translating a wide range of other elements including the following.
Table of Contents:
Once the translation team finalizes the translation, elements such as the table of contents and indexes must be produced in the target language. To ensure accuracy, or to be double sure about it, the translation team must validate the auto-generated tables, to re-produce them after every edit that takes place to the content.
Units and Measurements:
This forms an important factor as something used in the home country of the manufacturer may not be necessarily used in that of the user. For instance, some countries use pounds as the unit to measure weight, while some determine it in kgs. The translation team must be aware and careful about these aspects while ensuring the accuracy of the translation.
Images:
Images are an integral part of every user manual, as they help the user understand the process better. However, it is important that the image doesn’t appear foreign, but is localized to make a better impact.
Page Layout:
Often, the length of the translated sentences varies from language to language. These are either long or short as compared to the original text. Hence, the page layout needs to be planned beforehand to ensure optimal usage. Besides, other factors such as fonts, the size of fonts, etc. also play an important role in determining the page layout.
Filose’s User Manual Translation Process
At Filose, we follow an organized user manual translation process. Here’s how we go about translating user manuals.
- The first step involves analyzing the source authoring application, along with a careful review of the documents received to put forth questions before initiating the translation process.
- Once the review process is done, we will assign an account manager to facilitate a single point of contact for all your concerns and queries.
- Our language expertise then begin the translation process, followed by editing and proofreading, and then by multiple quality checks to ensure the highest levels of accuracy.
- Once the translation is done, our desktop publishing team begins working on the formatting part.
- The above processes are further followed by a final quality assurance check to ensure the correctness of the translation on all the fronts.
- The content is then validated with the source file, as a part of the post DTP quality assurance.
Why Choose Filose for User Manual Translation Services?
Here are some strong reasons why choosing Filose for user manual translations is always a better business choice.
- Accurate translations for a wide range of products and business domains.
- A strong team of language experts ensuring on-time delivery of all the projects.
- Strict quality check processes to assure the highest levels of linguistic, technical, and cultural accuracy.
- Linguistic expertise in altogether 100 global and Indian languages.
- Delivery of a ready-to-deploy product eradicating the need for any additional work at the client’s end.
Our other Language Services
Language Consultancy
Language consultancy demands studying the language needs of a particular client with a intending to develop solutions to optimize the language solution.
Transcription
At Filose, we provide high accuracy across all the stages of the project, & ensure the loftiest standards of transcription for all audio and video recordings.
Voice over
We make sure of the uniqueness of the content without changing the tone and context of the content. We have professional voice-over experts for your projects.
Annotation
Get high and quick image & video annotation services at Filose. We ensure to meet the specific demands of our clients.