Technical Translation Services for the engineering and manufacturing sector

Last Updated On: August 14, 2018

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Technical Translation

There are many aspects of manufacturing that may require manufacturing translation services. These could be in any of the following manufacturing fields:

● heavy machinery & construction equipment;
● engineering:
● agricultural:
● automotive.

Manufacturing translation services, whether they are engineering translation services that are required or not, all these sorts of translations are highly technical and require the expertise of a technical translator to undertake the translations. The manufacturing sector demands a high degree of accuracy for all its translations as there is no room for error or misunderstanding.


Technical translations have to not only be accurate but they also need to be precise and clear. Each technical translation project involving manufacturing translation services will need a highly experienced project manager who understands the manufacturing industry well. All manufacturing translation services will have a pool of resources to help ensure a good translation is an outcome which includes terminology management, centralisation of translation memory and resources to ensure the localisation of both websites and mobile apps.

1. Agricultural translations

Agricultural translations include manuals for using and maintaining agricultural machinery and heavy equipment used in agriculture such as a combine harvester and a tractor, It also involves the translation of texts for customers who do business with the lucrative dairy industry, the livestock farming industry, the feed industry for domestic animals and the horticultural industries which involve flowers and vegetables which are exported and imported to global destinations.

There are also new emerging fields in agriculture which require agricultural translations such as for research papers and other documentation in the fields of biotechnology, the environment including environmental damage caused by the outcomes of intensive farming techniques, sustainable agricultural techniques and nutrition. It’s important in agricultural translations that the right terminology and agricultural jargon are used in the targeted text.

2. Heavy machinery & construction equipment translations

Heavy machinery and construction equipment are manufactured in many different countries around the world but it is exported to countries that don’t produce their own equipment. Heavy machinery and construction equipment may be destined for use in gold, copper, nickel and iron ore extraction sites. The owners of the equipment need to have all the documentation related to the machinery translated into their language so that they know how to use and maintain the equipment. Construction equipment translations are required for bulldozers, diggers, cranes and forklifts which are the commonest machinery used on mine sites. Some construction equipment translations are for manuals that may run into hundreds of pages depending on the complexity of the machinery.

3. Engineering translations

An engineering translation can be for a variety of different documents such as technical drawings and engineering documents. This can include DWG format files and CAD drawings. The engineering industry is a global industry involving virtually every country in the world so the documentation within the industry has to be translated into all the languages that are likely to be involved with engineering, whether it’s in the buying or selling of products or research and development.
Most engineering translation services offer engineering translation in a variety of fields including for electrical and electronic products and systems, oil and gas systems, manufacturing processes and plants, high voltage equipment, civil and hydro-engineering documents and plans, petroleum plants documentation, energy production plans and documents, chemical products, and chemical safety guidelines.

4. Automotive translations

Vehicles and spare parts come from all over the world. Cars are manufactured in France, Germany, Japan and Korea and many other countries that don’t speak English. All vehicles need an automotive translation for their manuals translated into the languages of the countries that buy their vehicles. Purchasers will need to be able to identify the different parts of the vehicle so any diagrams in the manual will need to be translated into the languages of the buyers so mistakes aren’t made when driving the vehicle.

Some vehicles have voice commands built in reminding the drivers and passengers to put their seatbelts on or the fuel is just about to run out. These have to be accurately translated into the language of the purchaser. Accuracy in automotive translation is essential. It’s not a lot of use to a driver in Germany when he or she can’t understand the voice commands because they are in the language of the country that built the vehicle.

In conclusion, all technical translation services for the engineering and manufacturing sector are growing all the time as companies producing the products expand their markets throughout the world. This means they need all necessary manuals and supporting documents translated into the languages of their potential customers. It is vital that accurate translations are produced for such large, potentially dangerous machinery.

This is not beyond the scope of experienced translation services that have technical translators available in more than 150 languages for all the different types of heavy machinery and equipment as well as for the agricultural, engineering and automotive sectors.

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