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Free Spanish English Translation / English to Spanish Translation Services Guide: Preparing Your DocumentLearn how to prepare a document for English to Spanish translation services. These simple steps can lower your costs and improve the quality of your translation. (Were you looking for a free Spanish English translation online?) How to prepare a document for translation1) Double-check the document to make sure that it is the final draft and that nothing is missing. Last-minute changes and additions can add to your translation costs, delay the translation delivery, and lead to confusion and error. 2) Double-check the document for any elements that should not be translated and mark these for the translator or provide clear instructions. For example, let's say that you are translating a website to Spanish, and part of the document is content for the Spanish website, while part of it is instructions for the web developer. The web developer instructions probably shouldn't be translated to Spanish, but you have to explain this to the translator. If the document is in Word, you can highlight the parts that should stay in English (or highlight the parts that get translated, if most of the document does not). 3) Decide in what format you want the translator to return the finished translation. If you want the translator to maintain the current format of the document, then specify this, and check the document formatting to make sure that it is correct and reasonably easy to follow. For instance, if you have a Word document that separates columns with space breaks rather than a table, the translator is going to have a hard time maintaining this when he or she inserts text of a different length. Try to set up formatting that does not depend on the length of the text. If some texts are in images or graphics or in some other format that can't easily be edited, decide ahead of time how you want the translator to deal with them. For example, you might want to convert them into editable text boxes. If you want the translator to translate pieces of text in a table, with the English and Spanish versions side by side, then create the table and clearly mark where you want the translated pieces to go. 4) If possible, read the text before sending it for translation. Check for possible areas of misunderstanding or terminology that might not be familiar to the translator, and either clarify the text or provide instructions for dealing with potential problem areas. Also check for anything that might not be culturally appropriate such as measurement units, currencies, prices, local references, jokes, or wordplay, and provide instructions to the translator on how to handle them. (Click here for a checklist of areas where cultural adjustments might be needed.) More free Spanish English translation resourcesGet help sorting out English to Spanish translation services options See typical prices for English to Spanish translation services Browse a list of all free Spanish English translation articles |