- to deliver in the same format or other
I work in the following formats:
Word, text files or RTF
Excel worksheets
PowerPoints built with text in boxes
PowerPoints built with text in images
PDFs created with extractable text (to Word)
PDFs created with images (not extractable to Word)
Web pages (Html, Php, CSS)
Printed material
Text in images
Subtitles files (.srt and others)
Video and Audio files (Transcription)
Ask for any other format
For a technical translator, which requires state of the art procedures for high efficiency and effectivity, to deliver quality translations in the shortest time, it will always be preferable to work on non-formatted texts, that is, a simple Word document or text file. Any required format can be re-produced after the translation has been completed. The more complex a file format the slower and costly the translation, in this order:
1) Text file
2) Unformatted Word document
3) Highly formatted Word document (fonts, font styles and sizes, bold, superscript and subscript, columns, tabs, textboxes, spacing, etc.)
4) PDF or PPT with extractable text
5) Any file with text in images, or hard copies
6) Web pages in html or php format
Some formatting in Word documents can be delivered free-of-charge as they don’t affect the translation process, or the translation memories of CAT tools. Other elements affect the effectivity of translation memories, and possible savings in future jobs, so it’s better to eliminate those elements in a document before translation and re-produce them afterwards. If there are many of those elements, that means more work for the translator. Many translators, I included, offer some DTP work, so we can deliver your document with a style identical or very similar to the original text, either as a Word file, PDF, PPT, Html or image file, but if you prefer, you can have your translated text formatted by your own staff or experts in DTP.
Extracting text from PDF-images, PPT-images, images, printed material and webpages can be very time consuming, and a translator has to charge for that time. If you have staff that can do this with precision and with no extra cost, great, otherwise I’ll do it.
I recommend, however, for cheaper and faster translation work send me an unformatted, un-tabbed Word file.