Translation of technical documentation

In this age of modern production and high levels of consumption, there are extensive international trade links. So when you buy high-tech products, you can be sure that all of them or their components have been manufactured abroad. In our country, as a rule, only the assembly of finished products and reselling of them to the consumer takes place. In order for you as a user to understand the design and functioning of this product, the seller should supply all the necessary technical documentation. It will be written in the same place where the equipment or product was manufactured and, accordingly, this documentation should be properly translated into Russian. Most of the technical documentation in the world is written originally in English. And the Russian-English translation is needed. The need to translate documentation from other languages — German, Italian, French and others — is much rarer, but these language pairs collectively account for no more than 10% of the total number of technical translation orders.

With the increased role of China as the global forge and assembly plant of all and sundry, a type of technical translation such as translation from «Chinese» English into Russian has become a common occurrence. This means receiving the documentation in English from the Chinese manufacturer, which was prepared by fast translators in China and is of very low quality. It is very difficult to understand from such technical documentation how the equipment is supposed to function. Sometimes it is easier to ask the customer for instructions in the original Chinese language and translate them from Chinese into Russian, rather than from English, in order to obtain an acceptable quality translation.

What the translation of technical documentation entails.

This is usually a set of instructions, usually supplied in pdf format. Describing the operating principles of the equipment, and safety recommendations for the start-up and operation of the appliances supplied. Often the operation of the equipment is illustrated by detailed drawings or operating diagrams. These are not always necessary to be translated into Russian. There is a rule of thumb. If the software or device interface, its control buttons etc. are translated on the device itself, this must also be translated in the technical documentation. If it is supplied without interface translation, the translation can include everything in English, with a detailed description of the operation in Russian. Technical documentation also includes all accompanying literature, e.g. a list of spare parts in Excel format or a PowerPoint presentation of the company. All of that has to be translated as well. Sometimes it is more time-consuming to format, change the texts in AutoCAD or work with images in graphic editors than the translation itself. This is exactly what the translation of technical documents looks like in our translation agency.

Costs of translating technical documents from different languages

You can always pre-estimate the approximate cost of our translation company’s work by referring to the price list. However, it is much better to send us the existing technical documentation that you need to translate for an estimate. Then we will be able to give you a quote before you start the translation, as well as an estimate of the cost of any additional formatting or work with graphics editors. Careful pre-translation of the text and minor formatting is free of charge at our technical translation company.