To most effectively and efficiently work with your Language Service Provider, it’s important to know how to prepare your content for translation. We know that our customers aren’t experts in translation- that’s our job – but there are a few key principals to keep in mind before sending content for translation.

Following these tips can help ensure your materials are translated quickly and accurately. Not to mention, preparing your content well for translation can save you time and money since our translators will be able to complete their jobs more quickly.

Optimize Your Content

We recommend creating your content with translation in mind. Of course, preparing for international audiences won’t control your message, but doing research on the markets in which your business operates will save you from creating content that may be offensive or ineffective in other markets.

Another way to create your content with translation in mind is to ensure your visuals are localization-friendly. Where possibly, it’s best to use universal images or graphics so they automatically translate to other audiences. If you use country-specific graphics, consider updating them for the target country or market before sending the materials for translation.

And certainly, before you send your content for translation, be sure to review your materials for any grammar, spelling, or terminology errors. Confusing or unclear language can slow down the translation process, and even the smallest grammar error can lead to an inaccurate translation. Avoid awkward phrasing or inconsistent terminology for the best translation result.

Enhance Your Formatting for Translation

Formatting your documents well before sending them for translation can be the single most important step in keeping translation costs down and ensuring an accurate translation. Translation memory tools break text into sentence units. Poor formatting can lead to segment fragments in the translation tool, which can lead to mistranslations or inconsistent translations.

When preparing your content, it’s helpful to consider text expansion and condensing, which are likely to happen during the translation process. If you have used a small font size to fit all of your content into the space available, any text expansion could pose issues for visual formatting. This likely isn’t the first thing you consider while creating content but keeping these potential changes in mind while creating content can ensure your materials are more appealing and could save you time during the formatting portion of the translation project.

Another important piece of preparing your content is the font you use. Many fonts don’t support special characters, meaning your choice of font could mean your translated content would be missing diacritics important to your target market.

Prepare a Style Guide or Glossary

Creating a Style Guide or Glossary will help your translator work more quickly and effectively, but it will also ensure there is consistent tone and messaging in your content.

The glossary should include any industry-specific terms, company slogans, your brands or product names, and any abbreviations relevant to your content. The more information you include in your style guide, the better.

Sharing with the translation team the tone of your content will help them translate your materials, as well. If you aren’t sure how something should be translated for your target market, ask your project manager. They can use their experience and background to provide advice on how to deliver your content for international markets.

In addition to your Style Guide, sharing your company’s font package can save us time as we work to put your materials back together after they have been through translation and localization. The font package saves the team time during the formatting portion of the project and guarantees a timelier delivery of the final product.

Overall, delivering content that is easy to understand and accompanied by the necessary resources to help your translator work quickly and accurately can save you time and energy during the translation process. Not to mention, it will ensure your materials maintain your intended tone and message when translated for other markets.