Building a customer relationship with your overseas clients and providing translated documentation can be time consuming, but if you work closely with your Translation Service Provider it doesn’t have to be! The key to ‘working smarter and not harder’ can be down to the format of the files and the effectiveness of the Translation Project Manager (TPM).

Receiving files as a PDF is generally the most common format however it’s not always the most efficient. PDFs can generate extra work in preparing the file for translation as well as inputting the translated text from the bilingual files into the original source. At TW Languages we are noticing a culture change in that Clients are asking if files can be translated in their original format i.e. INDD files, MS Publisher etc.

This has been possible over the last few months due to development in our CAT tools and a review of our internal processes to work in original formats.

Advantages:

– less time is required in preparing the document for translation and in particular for INDD files.

– time can be saved when reviewing the layout of the translated material before printing.

– reduction in human error as the translation memory (TM) software re-creates the translated INDD file before a final quality check and sign-off ready for publication.