Listen to this articleAlthough the world is witnessing the creation of novel businesses and products that the world didn’t know about before, the glamor of the age-old industries can never fade. One of these old industries is the automotive industry. This enormous industry is booming year after year; the global market is all ready to take advantage of this and Automotive Translation is clearing the way.
Germany is the First to Hit the Road
The first word that pops into our minds when we hear the word car is Germany, and this is largely owing to Germany’s long history of car manufacturing. Travelling back in time, exactly in 1886, Karl Benz developed the first automobile, a three-wheeled vehicle with an internal combustion engine, which is generally considered to be the emergence of the automobile as we know it.
130 years later, today Germany continues to hold a pioneering position and vision in the automotive industry, being Europe’s largest automotive market and the fourth-largest producer of automobiles worldwide. According to Germany Trade & Invest, the automobile industry is the largest industry sector and a major economic force in Germany, producing over 15 million vehicles in 2015- equivalent to more than 19 percent of the total global production. Helmut Becker states in his book, High Noon in the Automotive Industry, that: “The automotive industry is indisputably the key industry in the German economy.” In 2016, the auto sector listed a turnover of EUR 404 billion, around 20 percent of total German industry revenue.
Home to prestigious seven marques, Volkswagen AG (and subsidiaries Audi and Porsche), BMW AG, Daimler AG, Adam Opel AG, and Ford-Werke GmbH, Germany is distinguished by excellence, high-technology, reliability, and innovation. Perhaps, this is how German people maintain superiority in such competitive industry, equipped with a workforce of around 712,500 in 2011.
Automotive Translation: The Fastest Route to the Global Market
With the incredible growth the automotive industry has been experiencing over the past couple of years, a fierce competition is taking place as companies are vying to enter this constantly accelerating market and operate on a global scale. This has led to a growing interaction and coordination between various parties around the globe; between manufacturers, suppliers, and traders. Consequently, the need for high-quality automotive translation becomes inevitable.
Automotive translation means providing language services to various organizations and business partners in the automotive and heavy machinery industry. This type of translation is distinguished by its diversity of source texts and materials such as technical documents, product catalogs, brochures, warranty information, instruction manuals, and the list goes on. Accordingly, various translation services are involved in the process, like:
– Catalog Translation
– Technical Translation
– Market Research Translation
– Local E-Learning Manuals
Subject Matter Expertise and Terminology: Few Bumps in the Road…
Automotive Translation has its own challenges and there might be some few bumps in the road. To be accurate, these challenges can come down to two interrelated issues: subject matter expertise and terminology.
The thing with this translation is that it requires a relevant technical understanding and thorough knowledge with the whole industry of cars, trucks, transportation, and heavy machinery. Only an experienced translator with a subject matter expertise is able to convert a plain-quality translation to an outstanding, fully functional, and world-class quality translation with the right selection of terms and words. This translator is invested in the industry, might even be a car and machine fanatic, and is always up to date with the linguistic and terminology development of the industry. This subject matter expertise is an asset to the translator.
The other face of the coin is terminology. In the automotive industry, the vivid use of extremely advanced terminology and technical terms is an important feature. What makes it challenging is that terminology is constantly updated, the same pace technology is, which requires in many cases coining new terms while translation. This is perhaps one reason why automotive translation can be complicated; because, in addition to the strict requirement of the correct and precise use of terminology, consistency shouldn’t be missed. These two (precision and consistency) are necessary components for a high-quality translation.
So, if you don’t want to compromise the quality of your translation, then a skilled native-speaking translator with a solid background in engineering who is capable of rendering complex and technical terms is the way to conquer the roads.
Tips and Best Practices of Automotive Translation: Quality Is the Destination
You have a translation project in mind and quality is all what you can think of. Well, you have every right to, because in this kind of translation, many things can go wrong. By wrong, we mean maybe wrong operations or misunderstanding of safety instructions or, on a larger scale, things might end in business fiasco.
However, you can save yourself every ounce of trouble by seeking the help of a professional translation service provider. With them, you can make sure your translation project undergoes a strategic multi-procedural process, where there’s no room for mistakes and creating a high-quality, consistent, and original piece is the objective.
Speaking of a strategic translation process, automotive translation projects have a set of unique requirements. So, here we brief you on the best practices of how the process should go.
- Clear Source Text
The quality of an automotive translation project starts in the early stages with a clear/neat source text. The source document should be checked for a clear language and for any inconsistencies or typos, for instance. This way, the translator’s job is chiefly focused on the translation process rather than researching and checking for incorrect or missing info.
- Rich Data and Accessible References
Due to the complicated technical nature of the automotive text, an impressive amount of data and in-depth background information is a must, in order to thoroughly understand and analyze the content. Providing rich data and accessible references for an automotive content is the essence of quality for this type of translation.
- Glossary and Terminology Management
As we previously pointed out, terminology is the crux of automotive translation; there is a huge amount of new terms and phrases translated. In an effort to overcome this, professional language service providers develop the use of Translation Memory (TM), glossaries, and style guides which facilitate the process by storing them and retrieving terms and phrases when needed. Glossaries are created to be used along with the client’s customized glossary, in addition to updated style guides. These tools not only deal with the terminology problem but also establish quality and consistency for a translation.
- Desktop Publishing (DTP)
Desktop Publishing is one of the key elements here. It is responsible for adjusting the translated content and the digital elements together to match the layout of the source document. To that end, DTP specialists use advanced technology to provide a visually attractive layout to your translated document. True, DTP doesn’t have to do with linguistic aspects, yet it finalizes a piece of work to look as professional as its translation.
- QA Scheme
A rigorous quality assurance scheme is your fast-moving lane straight to a quality, close to perfection. Professional translation services strictly carry out multiple stringent quality procedures through all the stages of the automotive translation process, covering both linguistic and technical aspects, using high-tech QA systems and methodologies.
Quality checks are performed by in-country native-speaking proofreaders and linguists, to ensure a linguistically accurate native-like translation while bearing cultural correctness in mind. Technicality, on the other hand, is not something to be overlooked; graphic designers, DTP specialists, and engineers have a huge responsibility to bring about a professional layout. That’s because a high-quality translation should always be embellished by an accomplished-looking document.
Those best practices guarantee a smooth workflow to the kind of quality necessary for the sophisticated and intricate nature of the automotive translation.
Conclusion and Wrapping Up
With the growing automotive industry and global markets, there’s a growing need for automotive translation. However, it is as much challenging as the industry itself. An impeccable-quality translation allows you to confidently take part in the competition and grants you extra opportunities to expand. This is your driving license to be at the wheel of your business.
If impeccable-quality translation is what you are looking for, Bayantech can lead the way!
Bayantech is a leading language service provider, compromising of enthusiast project managers and certified in-country native-speaking translators and proofreaders with a breadth of experience. Among our multiple translation and localization services, we offer to manage your automotive content with an aim to meet the level of excellency our clients expect, and even strive to go beyond.
In Bayantech, we understand the challenges and unique requirements of automotive translation. Applying the best practices and using high-tech translation tools, our elite teams of translators, proofreaders, graphics designers, and DTP specialists work hand in hand in order to create a world-class professional-looking translation.
To learn more and discuss your project, contact us!
