For many years, companies paid only little attention to technical documentation. Most documentation that was needed when selling a product was written by employees lacking professional knowledge in this field. In most cases, product managers wrote the documentation for their products.
On February 24th, 2022, Russian military forces began their invasion into Ukraine, sparking one of the biggest conflicts of the 21st century. Over the months of fighting, Europe has witnessed violence on a scale unseen since almost a century ago. These scenes are reminiscent of the Second World War– and yet, the war in Ukraine is still unlike any other observed throughout history, where the tides are gradually being turned with the help of one small, tireless group: Ukrainian translators.
A subject matter expert is an essential resource for anyone wishing to translate specialized content. Even seasoned translators can find themselves in situations where the source text is too complex. No matter how much time they have spent studying the subject in depth, some words or phrases may still be ambiguous. This is especially the case for highly specialized translations, such as technical translations.
Even though many translators work in technical writing, most people don’t think of them as an obvious choice when looking to hire for their technical documentation team. So what translation skills do language lovers already have that make them perfect candidates for jobs in technical communication?
In today’s global market, it’s not enough to have your content available in only one language: from marketing materials to product catalogues, multilingual content is becoming the standard. But there’s more to translating your text than just transforming it from one language into another. In bringing your content to the correct audience, the secondary stages in the translation process, proofreading and editing the translated text, are what ultimately make the text ready for its intended purpose.
I’m sure this won’t be breaking news to you: English is the main language of technical documentation around the world. Read on to learn how Simplified Technical English can help you make your technical documentation clearer and easier to understand.
As a localization project manager for medical documentation, I receive a lot of back translation requests from clients. If you work for a Language Service Provider and have never heard of the back translation process before, don’t worry and keep reading to find out!
