Translation of drawings

Translation of drawings is quite a peculiar type of translation. You can have a wonderful linguistic education and even have experience in translation of technical documentation, but this will not be enough for high-quality translation of drawings. To translate drawings properly, one needs to be able to interpret them, at least within the framework of descriptive geometry. Furthermore: 

1. The drawings are not produced in formats of common text editors, and if they can be opened by a text editor, this is for reference only. Native drawing formats can be opened only with such specialized CAD programs like AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or Compass 3D. These programs are not user-friendly since they are designed for specialists with the corresponding qualification.
2. Drawings rarely have context. As a rule, context is specified only with graphical elements and symbols and, what is more, drawings often have abbreviations that are not commonly accepted and can rarely be translated without interaction with the customer and additional information. All this further complicates the task of translating drawings.

The translation is carried out:

1. Directly in design programs where these drawings were created, or
2. By extracting the text from a drawing in a separate file that is suitable for computer-aided translation programs (such as SDL Trados, MemoQ, OmegaT, etc.).

The second option makes sense in the case of a large number of drawings, the presence of specifications and descriptions accompanying the drawings, as well as when there is a  regular stream of drawings from the same customer.

Automated processing allows you to increase the speed of translation and terminology consistency due to the fact that the translation is performed using a consolidated translation memory. When the translation process is completed, the text information is incorporated back into the drawing files whose layout is then polished to make inscriptions appear as they should and to adjust their position. However, this is merely the cookhouse that helps our specialists translate your drawings professionally. We are aware of how important the translation of drawings can be and approach this task with the utmost responsibility.

We have qualified engineers with linguistic backgrounds who can translate drawings properly ant to high standard.