Translate a sales brochure into Spanish

Spain or Latin America: settle the tone first

A sales brochure speaks to one market, and Spanish is not quite the same in Madrid, Mexico City or Buenos Aires. The grammar is shared, but everyday vocabulary differs: ordenador or computadora (computer), móvil or celular (mobile phone), coche or carro (car), conducir or manejar (to drive). A Mexican buyer will understand ordenador, but will notice at once that the brochure was not written for them.

Register matters even more, because a brochure addresses the reader directly. English has a single ‘you’; Spanish forces a choice. In Spain, many brands use the informal tú: Descubre nuestras soluciones. In B2B, and across much of Latin America, the formal usted is the safer option: Descubra nuestras soluciones. For a plural audience, Spain uses vosotros (Descubrid), which Latin America does not use at all; there it is ustedes (Descubran).

The classic mistake is not the wrong choice but a mix: an informal headline, a formal call to action (Contáctenos) and a side panel in vosotros. Decide on the market and register before translating, then check them in the free sample.

What changes in the Spanish text

• Length. Spanish runs noticeably longer than English, and about the same as French. A cover headline, button or caption that fitted on one line in English may need two.
• Punctuation. Questions and exclamations open with an inverted mark: ¿Listo para crecer? (Ready to grow?), ¡Pruébelo gratis! (Try it free). A question-style slogan missing its ¿ looks wrong to any Spanish reader.
• Capitals. Only the first word of a heading is capitalised: Nuestras principales ventajas, not Nuestras Principales Ventajas copied from English title case. Months and days are lower case: 15 de marzo, lunes.
• Numbers and prices. Spain uses a decimal comma (12,5 %); Mexico uses a decimal point (12.5 %), and there $ means pesos, not dollars.
• Plurals. Spanish treats millions separately: 3 clientes, but 1 millón de clientes or 2 millones de clientes, with de. A headline figure rewritten by hand easily falls into this trap.
• Fonts. The brochure font must include ñ á é í ó ú ü ¿ ¡. Some decorative display fonts lack ¿ or ñ: check before going to print.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Your brochure goes to Calliope, Manuce's engine specialised in marketing and sales copy: taglines, selling points, calls to action. The file comes back in its original format, layout included: Word stays Word, a PowerPoint presentation stays a presentation, a PDF stays a PDF. Accepted formats are Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, plain text, Markdown, HTML, RTF and CSV. For a brochure of around 1,200 words, about four pages, the translation is delivered within minutes and kept in your client area.

What Manuce does not do:

• it cannot read a scanned PDF, meaning an image with no selectable text; likewise, a slogan baked into a photo or graphic is not part of the text that is read;
• desktop publishing files such as InDesign are not among the accepted formats: export a PDF with selectable text, or a Word file;
• it does not produce sworn or certified translations; a brochure rarely needs one, but if it is part of an official file, any document that requires certification must go to a sworn translator.

For a brochure going to print or to prospects, the Professional level gives text ready to send; Premium adds a cross-review after the most advanced engine.

Preparing the brochure and checking it before print

Before uploading:

• pick the market (Spain, Mexico, Argentina…) and the register; for a brochure aimed at all of Latin America, usted / ustedes is the safest;
• start from the final source text: any later change to the original means revisiting the Spanish version;
• list the names that must stay unchanged (brand, product range, registered slogan), then check them in the free sample and in the delivered translation.

After delivery:

• go through every page for overflow: fixed-size boxes, buttons, footers, back cover;
• check that every call to action uses the same register: Solicite una demostración throughout, not Solicita two pages later;
• adapt contact details and prices to the market: +34 for Spain, +52 for Mexico, currency, opening hours;
• have the taglines read by someone in the target country: an English or French pun often has no direct Spanish equivalent.

In practice

1. Export the brochure as Word, PowerPoint or a PDF with selectable text.
2. Upload it: the quote appears at once, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free sample: register, vocabulary, ¿ and ¡.
4. Pay, then download the Spanish brochure from your client area.
5. Check overflow, prices and contact details before printing.