Translate a Word document into Korean

What Korean changes in a Word document

Korean is written in hangeul, left to right, with spaces between word units (eojeol). The document structure is not mirrored as it would be for a right-to-left language; the differences lie elsewhere.

• Register. Business documents use the formal -습니다 / -ㅂ니다 endings. The softer -요 style suits consumer-facing instructions, not a contract or a report.
• Plurals. Korean has a single form and the marker 들 is often dropped. “3 files attached” takes a counter word: 파일 3개.
• Names and job titles. Family name first, title after the name: “Mr Kim, Manager” becomes 김 부장님.
• Dates and numbers. Year, month, day: 2025년 3월 14일 or 2025. 3. 14.. Large numbers are grouped in units of ten thousand: 10,000 is 1만, 100 million is 1억, so “1.2 million” is not a direct carry-over.
• Punctuation. Latin full stops and commas, no space before colons or question marks.

Fonts, italics and line breaks in hangeul

This is the part that needs most care. In a .docx, every run of text carries one font for Latin script and a separate one for East Asian scripts. If your template uses Garamond or Calibri and sets nothing for Korean, Word displays the hangeul in whatever East Asian default the opening computer has, so the result can vary from one machine to the next.

• Before uploading, set a Korean font in your styles, such as Malgun Gothic (sans serif, shipped with Windows) or a serif face of the Batang type.
• Korean typography has no true italic: Word slants the glyphs artificially and they read poorly. Italic passages in the original stay italic, because formatting is preserved; for Korean readers, bold or quotation marks work better for emphasis.
• A syllable block takes a square cell wider than a Latin letter, yet a Korean sentence often has fewer characters than its English or French source. Line lengths shift, so check narrow table cells and fixed-size text boxes.
• Depending on the machine's settings, Word breaks Korean lines between words or between syllables. Make sure no heading word is split at a line end.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Manuce translates body paragraphs, tables, headers and footers, and text boxes. A merged cell is translated and charged once only. The .docx is rebuilt run by run: fonts, sizes, colours, bold and italic, styles, numbering and table widths stay as in the original. An automatic check then compares the form of the translated document with the original and flags any difference.

You receive the file in its original format with the Korean in place of the source text, plus a Word version, a PDF and the plain text. The PDF shows straight away how the hangeul renders with the fonts available.

What Manuce does not do:

• Tables of contents and cross-references are automatic fields: they keep working, but page numbers are only recalculated once you update fields in Word. Korean text takes up different space, so this update is needed.
• Since the original fonts are kept, Manuce does not add a Korean font if your document defines none.
• Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations. A birth certificate, degree or document required by a Korean authority or consulate may need a translation certified by an accredited translator: check beforehand.

Korean carries a language supplement: the per-word rate is multiplied by 1.6.

Preparing the file and checking the result

1. Set a Korean font in the styles you actually use (Normal, headings, table styles), not just as direct formatting on a few paragraphs.
2. Leave slack in tables: a column sized tightly to the source text can split a Korean word or an amount such as 1억 2천만 원.
3. Spell out dates and amounts rather than using abbreviations like “03/14” or “3k” whose order and units do not carry over cleanly into Korean.
4. Read the free sample: one paragraph translated at your chosen level, before you pay. It shows the register used and how a product name or acronym you want kept unchanged comes out; check it again in the full translation.
5. After delivery, open the .docx, update fields, then compare with the PDF: headings, narrow cells, italic passages.

In practice

1. Set a Korean font in the Word document's styles.
2. Upload the .docx: the quote appears at once, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free sample to check register and proper names.
4. Pay, then collect the .docx, Word version, PDF and plain text within minutes.
5. Update fields in Word and review tables and headings.