Strictly speaking, pdfs are printed documents, and an editable document is needed for translation. So what do you do if you’ve got a beautifully formatted InDesign file that needs translating into one or more languages? Most people copy the text from the InDesign file to Word, have it translated and then paste it back. But that’s inconvenient, susceptible to pasting errors and is really not necessary!
The text in an InDesign document can almost always be exported in idml format. This idml file can be translated using a special translation tool and then opened and saved in InDesign, even if the file needs translating into multiple languages. You don’t need to worry about the formatting changing irreparably or the file being corrupted, as our special translation application leaves the formatting codes intact.
A little DTP work is usually needed after translation, as not all languages are the same length. The text will often be longer in translation and some languages even need twice as much room to say the same thing. This means the text no longer fits into the text boxes and the DTP professional needs to edit this. But this is a lot less work than reformatting the translated text in its entirety.
Differences between languages solved quickly
HHCE has its own DTP professionals who format the translated text and also work together with the translators. This has many advantages as the DTP professionals don’t speak all of the languages they’re formatting and can easily make a mistake when working with different characters or text that reads from right to left. What’s more, they don’t know all the rules for splitting text over multiple lines in the various languages, so it’s good to have a native speaker on hand to check the formatting.
Advantages of translating in InDesign
- Cuts costs – translated texts don’t need reformatting.
- Saves time – the text is translated in the formatted version.
- Fewer pasting errors as the translated texts no longer need to be copied and pasted.
- Collaboration between the translator and DTP professional significantly increases quality.
- The customer receives a fully formatted and translated document and doesn’t need to do anything else after translation.
