Quick tips for writing to achieve better translation quality

Translation quality is determined by the quality of the text you translate (source document).

Whenever you want to convey information intended for translation, write in a direct style. Follow our recommendations to help you prepare documents that will improve the results of Machine Translated texts.

Be Direct. Write in a Simple, Clear Manner.

Avoid complex sentence structures, ambiguous phrases, extra clauses, and sentence fragments, and unnecessary words.

Be Concise and To The Point.

Use short sentences but do not leave out necessary grammatical elements.

Do Not Leave Out Necessary Words.

The English language allows us to clearly convey our intentions even when we omit certain words, such as relative pronouns (who, whom, that, which), prepositions, and parts of verbs. These words are required in other languages and must be included in documents that will be translated.

Beware of Slang and Colloquialisms.

Avoid using idioms in documents you plan to translate as these terms differ from country to country. Terms commonly used in English will not accurately translate for use in other languages.

Insert Proper Punctuation.

Make sure you insert appropriate punctuation. Punctuation offers guidance for both humans and computers. It is used to divide a sentence into logical parts. Without correct punctuation, sentences can be interpreted in several ways.

Check for Accurate Spelling.

Check your spelling and use your spell-checker before clicking the translation icon. If you give the computer incorrect information, your translation will be misinterpreted.

Use Articles Whenever Possible.

An article is a word used to indicate a noun and to state its purpose. For example, in English, the definite article is 'the' and the 'indefinite articles are 'a' and 'an'. Use of articles reduces ambiguities.

Consistent Use of Terminology and Abbreviations.

Always use the same word, phrase or abbreviation to describe the same object or actions each time that they appear in a document. Inconsistent wording can cause confusion for both humans and computers.

Maintain a Simple Format.

• Do not use tabs, manual hyphenation or hard returns within sentences.
• Use tabs or indents at the beginning of a line and to separate paragraph numbering from the text.
• Always leave additional space for text expansion near graphical objects in the source text. Since the translation may be longer than the source text, this will allow for that expansion while preserving your graphical objects.

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