Translate a User Manual PDF into English

What changes when a manual goes into English

A manual gives instructions, flags hazards and quotes values. English technical writing has firm conventions for all three, and they often differ from the source language.

• Instructions become imperatives. French and German manuals often use the infinitive (« Retirer le capot », Deckel abnehmen). English addresses the reader directly: Remove the cover before cleaning. An instruction left as To remove the cover reads like a heading, not an action.
• Signal words carry fixed meanings. The usual hierarchy is DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION, with NOTE for non-safety information. A source word that looks like “Attention” should usually become CAUTION, not Attention.
• Decimal separators flip. Many European sources write 2,5 mm; English needs 2.5 mm, and 1 500 W becomes 1,500 W or 1500 W. A stray comma turns a dimension into an error.
• Plurals follow English rules. English has two forms, one and other, so zero and decimals take the plural: 0 errors, 1.5 litres.
• Punctuation tightens. No space before colons, straight or curly double quotes rather than angle quotes: Mode: Eco, “Start”.

English text is often shorter than its source; from French it typically runs 10 to 15% shorter, which leaves a little room in each block of a paginated manual rather than overflowing it.

British or American English: decide before you order

A manual for the UK and one for the US are not written quite the same way. Settle on your market first, then check the variant in the free sample.

• Spelling: colour or color, centre or center, litre or liter, aluminium or aluminum.
• Dates: 03/04/2025 means 3 April in London and 4 March in Chicago. For a revision or warranty date, 3 April 2025 removes the ambiguity.
• Units: the translation carries over the values in your text. If US customers expect inches or Fahrenheit alongside millimetres and Celsius, that is a content decision for you, not a translation setting.

For machinery sold under CE marking, the translated manual must be labelled Translation of the original instructions, while the source version remains the Original instructions. Check that the wording appears on the cover of the English PDF.

What Manuce returns for your manual

The manual goes to Dédale, Manuce's technical specialist. It reads the PDF block by block, recording each block's position, font, size and colour, and you receive:

• The re-laid PDF: the source text is removed and the English placed in the same box, in the original font or an equivalent. Images, icons and background stay where they were. If a translation runs longer than the original, the text size is reduced until it fits; into English this is uncommon.
• A Word version, fully editable, for adjusting an instruction or adding unit conversions.
• A formatted PDF and plain text, handy for a help centre or an authoring tool.

What Manuce does not do:

• A scanned PDF, with no selectable text, cannot be read.
• Images are left untouched: a label baked into a screenshot or a diagram exported as an image stays in the source language.
• Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations. A manual rarely needs one, but if an authority asks for a document certified by an expert translator, this is not the right service.

Preparing the PDF and checking the English

A little preparation saves most of the rework.

• Test the text layer: try selecting a sentence. If nothing highlights, export the manual again from its source file rather than sending a scan.
• Match the device's labels: if the product screen already shows Settings and Reset, the manual must say exactly that, not Configuration or Restart. Compare the free sample, then the full translation, with the real interface.
• Check names that must not change: product range, model codes such as XR-200, brand names. Confirm in the sample that they were left as they are.
• Reread every safety block: signal word, imperative verb, figure and unit.
• Check cross-references: as the layout is kept, see page 12 still points to the right page; also check callout numbers on diagrams.
• List the screenshots to retake with the interface in English.

For a 30-page manual going to customers, the Professional level, handled by the domain specialist, gives a document ready to pass on.

In practice

1. Check that the PDF text can be selected and choose British or American English for your market.
2. Upload the manual: the quote appears at once, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free sample: imperatives, WARNING and CAUTION, product names, spelling.
4. Pay, then download the re-laid PDF, the Word file, the formatted PDF and the plain text.
5. Compare labels with the device screen and replace any screenshots still in the source language.