Translate a PowerPoint Sales Brochure into English

What changes when a brochure moves into English

A sales brochure is where a literal translation shows most: short taglines, calls to action, feature tables, price mentions. Whether your source is French, German, Spanish or Italian, several conventions shift in English:

• Length: English usually runs shorter than Romance languages, typically 10 to 15% shorter than French. On a brochure the risk is not overflow but empty space: a two-line headline may shrink to one and leave a gap under the title.
• Numbers: many European languages use a decimal comma and a space or full stop for thousands. English uses a decimal point (2,5 m becomes 2.5 m) and a comma for thousands (10.000 Stück becomes 10,000 units). The € sign moves before the figure.
• Tax wording: HT/TTC, netto/brutto or IVA incluida become excl. VAT and incl. VAT.
• Dates: 05/03 means 5 March in the UK and 3 May in the US. In a brochure meant for international buyers, write the month out.
• Register: the formal/informal split (vous/tu, Sie/du, usted/tú) disappears; English you is neutral. Calls to action are direct imperatives: Contact us, Request a quote.
• Plurals: English has just two forms, one and other. Watch singular for a single item (1 user) and plural for zero (0 users), where French keeps the singular.

What Manuce returns

Your brochure is handled by Calliope, the engine specialised in marketing and sales copy, which knows how a tagline or a sales argument should read. In practice:

• The text of every slide is translated: titles, placeholders, text boxes, shapes, shapes inside groups and tables, including a side-by-side comparison of your offers.
• You get back your original .pptx: theme, images, shape positions, animations and transitions are those of your file; only the text changes. Keeping the original layout is included in the price.
• You also receive a Word version, a PDF and plain text, handy for a native-speaking colleague without PowerPoint to proofread, or for emailing a PDF to a prospect.

For a typical brochure of around 1,200 words over 4 pages, the translation is delivered within minutes and stays available in your client area. Manuce does not produce certified (sworn) translations: if the brochure must accompany an official file that requires one, you will need an accredited translator.

What stays in the source language

Some parts of a brochure are not translated at present. Spot them before you send anything out:

• Charts: a revenue or market-share chart keeps its labels and legend in the original language.
• SmartArt: an "Our three-step method" diagram built in SmartArt stays untranslated.
• Slide masters: a shared footer such as a confidentiality notice, or a tagline placed in the master, is not translated.
• Text embedded in images: a product shot with built-in captions, a banner exported as a picture.
• Speaker notes are not translated.
• Mixed formatting: in "Up to 30 days free trial", the paragraph takes the formatting of its start, so the bold is lost. Re-apply it by hand on your key figures.

Preparing the brochure before upload

1. Upload the .pptx itself, not an exported PDF: the .pptx is what preserves the layout.
2. If a chart or diagram carries a key selling point, turn its labels into ordinary text boxes, or plan to translate them yourself afterwards.
3. Move any text you want translated out of the master (tagline, footer notice) into a text box on the relevant slides.
4. Product, range or brand names sometimes need to stay as they are: check on the free sample, then on the full translation, that they have not been translated.
5. Text box sizes are not recalculated; any autofit setting you made in PowerPoint applies. Since English is usually shorter, it is mostly visual balance you will need to revisit.

Checking the English version before it goes out

Before the brochure reaches an English-speaking prospect, run a targeted check:

• Spelling: pick British or American and keep to it (colour/color, organise/organize, centre/center). The free sample shows which variant was used.
• Headings: American style often capitalises every word (Our Key Benefits); British style tends towards sentence case (Our key benefits). Be consistent across slides.
• Contact details: give phone numbers in international format (+33 1 …, +49 30 …) and include the country in the address.
• Key figures: restore lost bold and check every decimal separator.
• White space: tighten boxes that now look empty or enlarge a headline that has shrunk.

In practice

1. Upload the brochure's .pptx and see the quote, based on the exact word count.
2. Read the free English sample: spelling variant, product names, tone of the taglines.
3. Pay, then download the translated .pptx along with Word, PDF and plain-text versions.
4. Translate charts, SmartArt, master and images by hand, restore bold on key figures and rebalance white space.