Translate instructions for use in PDF into German

What changes when a manual goes into German

Instructions for use contain everything German makes awkward: short labels in narrow cells, step-by-step imperatives and standardised warnings.

• Compound nouns. German welds nouns together: "battery charger" becomes Akkuladegerät, "safety instructions" Sicherheitshinweise. One long word cannot wrap like a string of short ones, which matters in a table column or a callout bubble.
• Length. German text is often 20 to 35% longer than English: "Do not immerse" becomes Nicht in Wasser eintauchen.
• Capitalised nouns: das Gerät, die Taste, der Netzstecker. A lower-case noun stands out at once to a German reader.
• Formal address: steps are written with Sie (Drücken Sie die Ein/Aus-Taste.) or in the infinitive (Gerät ausschalten.). What matters is not mixing the two within one list of steps.
• Numbers and punctuation: the decimal point becomes a comma (0.5 mm becomes 0,5 mm), the thousands separator is a full stop (1.500 U/min) and quotation marks look „like this“.
• Plurals: only two forms, as in English, but the ending depends on the noun. In a parts list, 1 Schraube becomes 4 Schrauben, while 1 Kabel stays 2 Kabel.

Warnings and requirements for German-speaking markets

Safety signal words have established German equivalents: DANGER is GEFAHR, WARNING is WARNUNG, CAUTION is VORSICHT and NOTICE is HINWEIS. Check these first: swapping WARNUNG and VORSICHT changes the level of risk you are announcing to the user.

For a product sold in Germany or Austria, EU rules require the instructions to be supplied in the language of the country, which here means German; machinery is a clear example. In Switzerland, German covers only part of the country, since French and Italian are also official languages.

Instructions for use do not normally call for a sworn or certified translation. If an authority or customer does ask for one, note that Manuce does not produce sworn translations: you would need an accredited translator.

For a manual handed to customers or a German distributor, the Professional level, translated by the technical specialist, fits that use; Essential is better suited to understanding a manual you have received, for internal use.

What Manuce returns

Dédale, Manuce's technical specialist, reads the PDF text block by block, together with its position, font, size and colour. The original text is then removed and the German translation placed in the same box, in the original font or an equivalent. Photos, diagrams and page backgrounds stay as they are.

Because every block keeps its page, internal references such as siehe Seite 12 remain correct. When the German does not fit its box, the text size is reduced until it does: this happens most often in technical data tables and in the numbered labels of an exploded view.

You receive four files:

• the PDF in its original layout, with the German text in place (the layout work is included in the price);
• a Word version with editable text;
• a formatted PDF;
• plain text.

What is not done: a scanned PDF, meaning an image of a page with no selectable text, is not read. Text that is part of an image, such as a photographed rating plate or a pictogram with wording, stays as it is, since images are kept unchanged.

Preparing the file and checking the German version

Before uploading, open the PDF and try to select a sentence. If nothing highlights, go back to the manual's source file and export it to PDF again. Also note any diagrams whose labels are drawn into the image: they will remain in the source language.

When you get the quote, request the free sample and, if you can, pick a paragraph of instructions. Check three things:

• the form of the steps, Sie or infinitive, and that it is consistent;
• button and message names exactly as the device shows them: if the display reads START or Reset, the manual must quote the same word, not a translation;
• your model numbers and product names, which must stay unchanged.

On delivery, go through the PDF page by page looking for areas where the text has been shrunk. A WARNUNG block that has become too small to read comfortably is best reworked in the Word version, where you can split a sentence, widen a column or add a line. Finally, check the figures: voltages, tightening torques, temperatures and units must not move.

In practice

1. Check that the text in your PDF can be selected, then upload it to Manuce and choose German.
2. Read the free sample of an instructions paragraph: form of address, button names, product references.
3. Approve the quote, based on the exact word count, and pay.
4. Download the PDF in its original layout, the Word version, the formatted PDF and the plain text.
5. Review warnings and tables where the text was reduced, and adjust them in Word if needed.