Translate a technical data sheet into Italian

What changes when a data sheet goes into Italian

Italian runs somewhat longer than English, roughly in line with French. In a specification table the expansion shows up in compound labels: Power consumption becomes Potenza assorbita, Operating temperature becomes Temperatura di esercizio. Narrow columns built around short English headings are where a label may wrap.

Points specific to Italian:

• Numbers: Italian uses a decimal comma (0,5 mm) and a full stop or space for thousands (1.200 giri/min). An English source reading 1,200 rpm or 1.5 mm needs careful checking, because the same characters mean something different.
• Units: SI units stay as they are, with a space between value and unit (40 °C, 12 kg).
• Accents: è, perché, velocità. The capital is È, not E', a common slip in sheets typed without an Italian keyboard.
• Invariable plurals: nouns ending in a stressed vowel do not change (la capacità, le capacità), nor do technical loanwords (il firmware, i firmware).

Vocabulary and register of a scheda tecnica

An Italian data sheet has expected headings: Dati tecnici, Caratteristiche, Dimensioni, Peso netto, Tensione di alimentazione, Grado di protezione IP65, Materiale. Standard abbreviations differ too: Cod. for part number, Mod. for model, Art. for item.

Adjectives agree in gender and number: tensione nominale (feminine) but diametro nominale, valori nominali. A wrong agreement in a table is instantly visible to an Italian engineer or buyer.

For usage or safety notes at the foot of the sheet, Italian technical writing often prefers the impersonal infinitive (Non immergere in acqua), while the formal Lei form (Non immerga) tends to appear in text addressed directly to the customer. Check which one the free sample uses and whether it suits your document.

Italian technical prose also keeps many English terms: software, standby, display. That is normal usage, not an oversight.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not

Your sheet is translated by Dédale, the engine specialised in technical text. The file comes back in its original format: Word stays Word, PDF stays PDF, an Excel sheet keeps its cells, and the layout is preserved.

Accepted formats: Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, plain text, Markdown, HTML, RTF and CSV. The quote appears on upload, based on the exact word count; Italian is charged at the base rate (×1 coefficient). The translated file stays available in your client area.

What Manuce does not do:

• Scanned PDFs are not read. A sheet that is only an image, with no selectable text, cannot be processed. Text embedded in images (dimensions on a drawing, diagram callouts) is not read either.
• No sworn translation. If an Italian authority asks for a traduzione giurata or asseverata, for instance to attach a sheet to an official file, you will need a sworn translator.
• No glossary or term list is accepted. For a trade name or in-house term, check the free sample and then the delivered translation.

Preparing the file and checking the Italian version

Before uploading:

• Send the source file (Word, Excel) rather than an exported PDF where possible; if you only have a PDF, make sure the text can be selected.
• Check that values in the table are text, not pasted images.
• If your source is in English, note any ambiguous numbers (1,200, 1.5) so you can verify them in the Italian output.

After delivery, a targeted review is usually enough:

• decimal separators in every value column;
• part numbers and codes (AB-200/IT), which must remain identical;
• agreement in headings and the capital È;
• singular and plural quantities (1 pezzo, 2 pezzi) and large round numbers, where Italian inserts di: 1 milione di cicli.

For a sheet going to an Italian distributor, the Professional level gives text ready to send; Essential is enough to understand a supplier sheet for internal use.

In practice

1. Export the sheet as Word, Excel or a PDF with selectable text.
2. Upload it and choose Italian: the quote appears straight away.
3. Read the free sample: headings, decimal commas, part numbers.
4. Pay, then download the Italian sheet in its original format.
5. Check figures and product codes before circulating it.