Special Ops – Document Formatting

Translation basically means putting the text content of a document into another language. Most documents these days exist in some electronic format. The large majority of these electronic documents contains formatting information, which rules the layout of the document.

Since most translators today use tools to handle their translations, such as e.g. a translation memory, some source documents need to be converted into a processable format that the translation tool can accept. Only some translation tools process the text independently of the formatting. This conversion process largely eliminates formatting and other non-textual information and leaves only the translatable part (i.e. the pure text) for processing in the translation tool.

So, how does the formatting information get back into the text after translation?

Special Ops – When Translation is not Enough

Sometimes texts are submitted for translation before they have been finalized. There are different reasons for this to happen. For example, the author of the text may not be an experienced writer. The text may not be meant for publishing in the source language and is therefore treated as a draft only. There may not have been enough time scheduled for thoroughly conceptualizing, writing and editing the text. In fact, the reasons are manyfold and often they are excuses.

But what happens when such a text is handed over to a translator?