Seeking the best technical translation services for your enterprise? Language Service Providers (LSPs), often known as translation agencies, are just one avenue to secure top-tier translation services for technical documents. However, for a more efficient, lower-cost, and more secure approach to translating technical documents across languages, consider leveraging translation software designed for enterprise use.

Translation software can be integrated into your organization to produce high-quality, accurate technical translations. This technology can significantly reduce labor how much you spend on translation and the hours and translation-related expenses compared to traditional translation agency fees. Moreover, it promises the fastest translation turnaround.

Nonetheless, to access the best technical translation services, it’s essential to opt for technical document translation software tailored for enterprise applications.

What You’ll Learn in this Article

This article will guide you through leveraging in-house enterprise translation tools and technologies—those same ones used by the top professional technical translation services. Discover their functions, benefits to your organization, and why internal use surpasses outsourcing to any outsourced technical document translation service.

We’ll conclude by recommending an easy-to-use translation management system for enterprises that consolidates these technologies into a user-friendly enterprise platform, facilitating your entry into AI-driven processes.

This approach ensures your organization continues to benefit from high-quality technical translations at decreasing costs over time, encompassing a wide array of technical documents such as: 

• Safety instructions and guidelines
• Technical manuals
• Owners manuals
• Service manuals
• Multimedia content, both audio and visual
• Materials for training and educational purposes
• Proposals for technical projects
• Websites and online platforms
• Specifications for engineering projects
• Manuals for installation and setup
• Catalogs and product listings
• Labels for software interfaces and hardware devices
• Responses to requests for proposals (RFPs)
• Patent documentation and intellectual property
• Drawings and designs created in CAD
• Modules for e-learning and online training
• Sheets for material safety and data
• Manuals detailing company policies and procedures
• Presentations and corporate slides
• Lists and inventories of materials

Use These Technologies to Get Faster & Lower-Cost Translations than Technical Translation Service Providers Can Give You

Here’s a look at the technologies and tools utilized by the top professional technical translation services, all of which are available in a single software solution crafted for enterprises like yours. 

When you employ these internally, you reduce costs because there’s no markup from an agency, and you get a faster turnaround by removing a middleman.

1. AI-Powered File Translator (Top Tool Used in Technical Translation Services)

The leading technical translation service providers employ robust AI-powered file translators. They’re capable of handling various file formats beyond just digital PDFs or Word documents. Utilizing AI tools optimized for the diverse file types your enterprise works with is crucial for time efficiency and cost reduction in producing your translations. 

Initially, these tools provide a draft translation using AI-powered machine translation. Then, it is post-edited to enhance quality. This whole process can be replicated internally at your organization, leveraging bilingual staff for post-editing.

2. Translation Editor

Most professional technical translation services use such special translation editing tools, especially for technical documents. These are often used in conjunction with translation memory and terminology management (see #5 and #6 to learn more).

Your enterprise can mimic the big agencies and adopt an internal translation editing tool to boost productivity when editing and reviewing technical translations. 

3. Text Gisting

In instances where translating an entire document isn’t necessary, “gisting” provides a basic translation of specific text portions, like email communication from an overseas colleague. It’s fast, and professional translation services frequently use gisting tools to offer clients a quick comprehension of text that doesn’t need publishable quality translations.

4. Batch Translation

Major language service providers employ batch translation technology to translate multiple files at once for an enterprise, facilitating swift AI-assisted translations for groups of related documents. For example, you might want to translate an AutoCAD drawing, technical manual and material data sheet together because they share some similar content.

5. Translation Memory

Translation memory is widely used by all the top technical translation services. It stores your organization’s high-quality translations, enabling their reuse in future projects. This technology, combined with machine translation and dynamic machine learning, offers ongoing quality improvements while drastically saving your organization tons of time and costs on human translation.

There’s no reason your organization cannot use this technology, too. In fact, many enterprises like yours opt to use it internally as an alternative to relying on technical document translation services for the same technology.

6. Terminology Management

To enhance the consistency and quality of technical translations while minimizing the need for post-editing, technical translation companies use robust terminology management systems. These allow for custom translations based on a predefined list of approved terms, accessible to enterprises at a lower cost. They lower costs and reduce the time it takes to review and edit translations.

Creating a term base is easy, and you can use this same technology in your organization for its pre-approved terms.

7. Automatic File Formatting

When your technical documents are run through machine translation, it’s common for the integrity of its formatting to be compromised. 

To maintain the publishable quality of translated documents, professional technical translation services will leverage automatic formatting technology. It preserves the original layout and formatting of translated documents, thereby saving time on reformatting.

This technology is available to your organization, too!

8. Collaborative Translation

Technical translation companies use collaborative technologies to effectively work with team members in the cloud. They streamline the translation process from initial machine translation to final client approval. 

Some collaborative technologies used by the best technical translation services include:

• File sharing
• Instant messaging
• Translation history
• Segment bookmarking
• User permission controls

You can take advantage of these same capabilities in your internal translation process.

9. Integration

Numerous technical translation agencies may boast of their capability to seamlessly incorporate translated content into your internal systems and software applications. However, this capability isn’t exclusive to external agencies. 

Your organization’s IT department can integrate translation technologies into your software systems, achieving a level of integration comparable to that offered by the pros.

10. Enterprise Security

In today’s digital age, enterprise-level security is crucial, yet not many technical translation agencies use software with such security measures. Adopting a translation management system internally with enterprise security will ensure your translations and sensitive data are secure.

Best Alternative to Professional Technical Translation Services

Looking for the best technical translation software encompassing all the above technologies? Try Pairaphrase, the AI-powered translation management system designed for teams who value secure, smart, and fast translation. 

With an almost nonexistent learning curve, Pairaphrase is simple to implement and use, making it the best alternative to expensive professional technical translation services. Translate into 100+ languages including Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Korean and more.

Schedule a Demo or share this article with a colleague.

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