Technical translations are about knowing your stuff

We bet you put a lot of care and attention into writing your technical manuals and brochures. You’ve got a product to be proud of and you want your customers abroad to know that too. The same amount of care, attention, pride and expertise needs to go into the technical translations of your texts, so you need a partner who knows his stuff and consistently shows it.

Solution-driven, that applies to technical translations too

HHCE translates for the construction, technical, electrotechnical and chemical sectors — all sectors that are driven by the desire to come up with good solutions, and we really like that. Quickly assess what needs to be done and then get on with it. That’s exactly how we handle our technical translations!

Let us get to know your products

We will pay you a visit so that we can get to grips with your product. What does it look like? How does it work? What is the company really like and what sort of texts will suit it? The answers to these questions will give us a wealth of knowledge that will shine through in the technical translations.

Want to find out more? Simply get in touch with us or request a quote.

Hmm, what do you call that sort of washer in Italian?

Almost all of our texts need translating. Technical and commercial texts, brochures, catalogues, manuals — the whole shebang. We write the texts in English and they then need to be translated into anything from four to eighteen languages. That’s no mean feat, because our texts are about technical, often hydraulic, products in an extensive field. So that means you’ve got a lot of technical terms on your hands, and they can be tricky. Where Dutch and English have just one word for a certain type of washer, for instance, the Italians have six!

That’s why it’s so important to us for terminology to be used accurately and consistently. You can’t use one name for your components in a manual and another in the catalogue. Sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how easily something like this can go wrong.

So it’s great that we’ve been working with HHCE for such a long time. It must have been a good twelve years now, if not more. They’ve got to know us really well in that time and have built up a massive translation memory, which ensures the technical terms are used very consistently. We are also getting more and more ‘perfect matches’ out of the translation memory, which not only increases reliability, but also cuts costs.

HHCE also takes care of the DTP work needed on our translations and the main advantage of that is speed. Basically, HHCE has a wealth of experience and the right tools, and they deliver sound, accurate work. That’s an offer we couldn’t refuse – even if we wanted to.

Karel van Galen

Marketing Communications Manager, Enerpac

Just one little mistake can have a massive impact

Handicare makes products like stairlifts, wheelchairs, seating systems and hoists that help the elderly and people with disabilities to become more independent. HHCE mainly translates technical documentation for us, so things like work instructions for technicians and technical newsletters. But they also take care of our brochures, letters and manuals. Our technical documentation is used all over the world. We have offices in many different countries, so we have a broad target audience. We’ve worked with HHCE for a good ten years now and are very happy with this long-term partnership.

HHCE really invests in doing a good job. They’ve come to see us and our factory a few times, so they can get to grips with the finer points of our products. This means they can translate texts for all of our different readers. You’ve got the technicians, of course. They are the ones who put our products together, and just one little mistake in the translations can have a massive impact. Then there are the elderly, who also form a major part of our target audience. HHCE makes sure that they too can rely on clear texts. And let’s not forget the dealers in the various countries. They also need a good explanation of how our products work. I’m happy to let HHCE get the technical message across, because I know that with their experience and dedication they’ll do a great job.

There are various factors that keep us coming back to HHCE. They use native speakers, for instance. They use standard varieties of each language, and not some dialect that readers won’t be familiar with. They always deliver on time. But most importantly, they put themselves in our shoes. They aren’t robots that simply translate a text without thinking too much. They are valuable partners who are quick to point out potential problems and always come up with good, creative solutions.

Dick Beerepoot