Translate a Product Catalogue PDF into English

What changes when a catalogue goes into English

A catalogue is not running text: it is hundreds of small blocks (range name, tagline, features, product code, dimensions, price line) placed with precision. English is usually compact; from French it runs 10 to 15 % shorter. A tagline such as « Conçu pour durer, pensé pour votre confort » becomes Built to last, designed for comfort. The text almost always fits its original box, sometimes leaving a little more white space.

Numbers are where costly mistakes hide, especially if your source language uses a decimal comma (French, German, Spanish, Italian and many others):

• the decimal comma becomes a point: 12,5 cm → 12.5 cm;
• the thousands separator becomes a comma: 1.250 g or 1 250 g → 1,250 g;
• dimension labels usually read W × D × H or L × W × H;
• a VAT-inclusive price reads incl. VAT in the UK, whereas US catalogues normally show prices before sales tax.

Plurals follow English rules too: only two forms (one and other), with the plural used from zero upwards, so 0 items and 1.5 kilograms, never the singular.

British or American English: decide before you publish

A catalogue for buyers in London and one for buyers in Chicago are not written quite the same way. The differences show up on the first product page:

• spelling: colour / color, aluminium / aluminum, catalogue / catalog;
• vocabulary: trousers / pants, worktop / countertop, torch / flashlight;
• dates: 03/04/2025 means 3 April in the UK and 4 March in the US; in a catalogue, write the month out (3 April 2025);
• units: UK buyers read centimetres and kilograms, US buyers often expect inches and pounds. Adding those equivalents is a commercial choice you make yourself, in the Word version.

The safe approach is to read the free sample with these words in mind. If the spelling does not suit your market, you know before paying, and the Word file lets you align the whole document afterwards.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not do

Your catalogue is handled by Calliope, the engine specialised in marketing and sales copy: a tagline is treated as a tagline, not as a line from a user manual. The PDF is read block by block; each original text is erased and the translation placed in the same box, using the original font or an equivalent one. Photos, icons and background stay as they are. If a translation runs longer than the original, which is uncommon into English, the text size is reduced until it fits.

You receive four files:

• the PDF in its original layout, with English text in place (layout included in the price);
• a Word file with editable text, to adjust a price, a code or a legal line;
• a simpler formatted PDF, convenient for proofreading;
• plain text, handy for an online shop or product listings.

Limits worth knowing: a scanned PDF (an image of the page with no selectable text) is not read, and text baked into a photo, such as a slogan on a visual, stays in the original language. Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations either: a catalogue does not need one, but a compliance document requested by an authority may.

Preparing the PDF and checking the English catalogue

Before uploading, open the PDF and try to select a product name: if the text highlights, the file can be read. Use the export from your layout software rather than a PDF compressed for email. A typical catalogue of around 10,000 words, roughly 40 pages, is translated in minutes.

When it arrives, check in this order:

1. Range and brand names. A name such as « Ligne Douceur » may be kept or translated depending on your strategy: check it in the free sample, then throughout the catalogue.
2. Product codes. Réf. 40-218-B should become Ref. 40-218-B with the code itself unchanged.
3. Numbers and units: decimal points, thousands separators, consistent dimensions.
4. Commercial wording: warranty, delivery terms, VAT-inclusive or pre-tax prices for the target country.
5. Dense pages: on specification tables, make sure no line has been shrunk so far that it becomes hard to read in print.

In practice

1. Upload the catalogue PDF with selectable text: the quote appears instantly, based on the exact word count.
2. Choose a level; at Professional, the catalogue goes to Calliope, the marketing and sales specialist.
3. Read the free sample: British or American spelling, range names, units.
4. Pay, then download the re-laid PDF, the Word file, the formatted PDF and plain text.
5. Proofread codes, figures and price lines before printing or publishing online.