Translate a User Manual PDF into German

How a German manual differs from the source

German readers expect a manual to follow certain conventions, whatever language it was written in:

• Instructions: either the polite imperative with Sie (Drücken Sie die Taste START.) or a terse infinitive, very common in numbered steps (Taste START drücken.). The informal du is limited to some consumer products with a casual tone.
• Capitalised nouns: Netzstecker, Gehäuse, Bedienfeld. A lower-case noun reads as a spelling mistake.
• Compound words: “battery charge level indicator” becomes a single word, Akkuladestandsanzeige, which cannot be broken just anywhere.
• Safety notices: German manuals use the signal words GEFAHR, WARNUNG, VORSICHT and HINWEIS, in descending order of severity. Check that Danger, Warning, Caution and Note map to the right level.
• Numbers and units: decimal comma (2,5 kg), a space before the unit (230 V), German quotation marks „Start“.
• Plurals: German has only two forms (one, other), but the noun itself often changes: 1 Schraube, 4 Schrauben.

Space on the page: compounds, tables and callouts

German text usually runs longer than its source: compared with English, 20 to 35% more is typical, and a short label can double in width. In a manual this hits hardest where space is tight:

• specification table cells (Nennleistung, Schutzart, Betriebstemperatur);
• numbered callouts around a diagram, often in small boxes;
• headers, footers and column headings;
• pictograms paired with a word (Hinweis, Entsorgung).

Manuce keeps every block in its original box: if the translation does not fit, the text size is reduced until it does. The page stays intact, but a callout or table cell may come out noticeably smaller than the surrounding text. That is the first thing to check when you leaf through the delivered PDF. If an area has become too dense, the Word version lets you rework that passage in your own layout tool.

What you get back, and what is not done

Your manual goes to Dédale, Manuce’s technical specialist. It reads the PDF text block by block, with its position, font, size and colour. You receive:

• the re-laid-out PDF: the original text is removed and the German placed in the same box, in the original font or an equivalent; images and background stay. Because pagination does not move, the table of contents and cross-references such as siehe Seite 12 remain consistent;
• a Word version with editable text;
• a formatted PDF and plain text.

What is not done:

• a scanned PDF (a page image with no selectable text) is not read;
• text that is part of an image, such as a software screenshot or a diagram saved as a picture, stays as it is, because images are kept untouched;
• Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations and does not check your manual against any standard or product regulation.

Preparing the PDF and checking the German

Before uploading:

• Try selecting a sentence in the manual. If nothing highlights, the page is an image: go back to the PDF exported from your authoring or layout software rather than a scan of the printed copy.
• Note your screenshots: if the device or software shows its own labels, the manual must quote them exactly as they appear on screen.

After delivery:

• Check the free sample: if a product name or button label (MENU, Reset) must stay unchanged, verify it there, then in the full translation.
• Review safety notices, figures and units first.
• Leaf through tables and callouts to spot shrunk text.
• For products sold in the EU, several regulations (machinery in particular) require instructions in the language of the country of sale: a final review by someone who knows the product remains your responsibility.

For a manual going to customers, the Professional level gives text that is ready to hand over.

In practice

1. Check that the text in your PDF manual can be selected.
2. Upload the file and choose German: the quote appears based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free sample, especially instructions and terms that must stay unchanged.
4. After payment, download the re-laid-out PDF, the Word version, the formatted PDF and plain text.
5. Review safety notices, tables and callouts before publishing.