Translate a technical data sheet PDF into English

What changes when a data sheet goes into English

A data sheet is mostly short labels, values and units. Moving into English, the risk lies less in the wording than in number conventions, where a single separator can change a value.

• Decimal separator: French, German, Italian, Spanish and many other sources use a comma; English uses a point. 1,5 mm becomes 1.5 mm, and 2.500 W in a German sheet means 2,500 W or 2500 W. Misread, a tolerance of one and a half millimetres becomes fifteen.
• The % sign sits directly against the number in English, whereas French inserts a space. Degrees keep their space: 20 °C.
• Fixed labels have established equivalents: Net weight, Supply voltage, Operating temperature range, Dimensions (L × W × H).
• Abbreviations change: approx., Ref. or Part No., max..
• British or American: aluminium / aluminum, colour / color, metre / meter, sulphur / sulfur. Dates too: 03/04 is 3 April in the UK and 4 March in the US.
• Plurals have only two forms, 1 unit and 2 units, and zero takes the plural: 0 units.

Standards (EN ISO 9001), ratings (IP65) and product codes are not translated and must come out exactly as they went in.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not do

Manuce reads the text of the PDF block by block, with its position, font, size and colour. Dédale translates each block; the original text is then erased and the English placed in the same box, in the original font or an equivalent. Product photos, drawings and the background stay where they are. Rebuilding the layout is included in the price.

You receive four files:

• the PDF in its original layout, with the text replaced in place;
• a Word version, handy for adjusting a label or reusing the content in a catalogue;
• a formatted PDF, simpler and easy to read straight through;
• plain text, useful for an online product page.

What Manuce does not do:

• it cannot read a scanned PDF: if your sheet is an image of a page with no selectable text, it will not be translated;
• it does not translate text drawn inside an image, such as callouts baked into a dimensioned drawing: they stay as they are;
• it does not convert values into imperial units: 250 mm will not turn into inches, and whether a market needs them is your call;
• it does not produce sworn or certified translations: if an authority requires one signed by an accredited translator, Manuce is not the right tool.

Layout: shorter English, tables that still fit

English usually runs 10 to 15 % shorter than French, and is often more compact than German or Spanish too. On a data sheet this helps: Température maximale de fonctionnement becomes Max. operating temperature, so table cells, labelled pictograms and narrow columns keep their breathing space.

Occasionally a line grows, for instance when a source-language acronym has to be spelt out or a regulatory statement is longer in English. In that case the text size is reduced until it fits its box. Nothing spills into the next block, but one cell may end up set slightly smaller than its neighbours. Look out for these spots when proofreading; if the difference shows, shorten the label in the Word version or in your source file.

A point specific to data sheets: values aligned in columns. A specifications table whose figures change from 12,5 to 12.5 keeps its width, but check that thousands separators have not been taken for decimals, especially for power, pressure and flow rates.

Preparing the PDF and checking the translation

Before uploading:

• try selecting a word in your PDF reader; if nothing highlights, go back to the file exported from your layout software rather than a scan;
• export from the latest source file, so you are not translating an out-of-date set of specifications;
• if an important caption is embedded in an image, plan to redo it separately.

Before you pay, the free sample shows one paragraph translated at the level you chose. Pick a passage with figures and a product name: you will see how decimals are handled, which spelling comes out (colour or color), and whether an in-house term you want left untouched, such as a range name, stays as it is.

On delivery, check:

• every value and unit, line by line, against the source sheet;
• references, part numbers and standards, which must be identical;
• safety wording (Warning, Caution) and warranty terms, reviewed by whoever is responsible for the product;
• consistent spelling throughout if the sheet targets a single market.

In practice

1. Check that the text in your data sheet PDF can be selected.
2. Upload the PDF: an instant quote appears, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free sample on a passage with figures and choose your level.
4. Download the re-laid PDF, the Word version, the formatted PDF and plain text.
5. Check values, units, part numbers and spelling before publishing.