Interpro has been translating since 1995, and we’ve learned a few things during that time. As businesses expand globally, the need for accurate and professional document translation has never been greater. Whether it’s legal contracts, marketing materials, HR policies, or technical manuals, it’s required that documents are translated with precision to maintain compliance, brand integrity, and effective communication.

Poorly translated documents can lead to legal issues, reputational damage, and loss of trust among international stakeholders. 

But what do you need to know before you begin translation and localization?

This guide explores the most critical business documents that typically require translation, best practices for ensuring quality, and the role of human vs. machine translation in business documentation.

What Types of Business Documents are Usually Translated?

Depending on your individual business model, legal requirements, and needs for internal/external communication, you may need to translate different documents. You can conduct a translation needs assessment to get started figuring out your translation needs.

To help determine which materials should be translated, consider:

• What key business documents can significantly enhance clarity, support compliance, and improve communication across global markets? Especially when engaging with multilingual stakeholders or operating in regulated environments.
• Are you legally obligated by your industry or market geography to translate or localize specific materials? (Contracts, compliance policies, privacy agreements, and employment laws, etc.)
• Product technical documentation such as user manuals, product specifications, and safety instructions.
• Marketing and branding materials for global markets like brochures, websites, advertisements, and product descriptions.
• Human resources corporate policies and internal communications: employee handbooks, codes of conduct, and training manuals.
• Financial documents such as annual reports, investor presentations, and tax filings
• Medical and life sciences documents like clinical trial reports, patient consent forms, and drug labels.

Companies that operate in international markets should develop a translation strategy that prioritizes which documents need translation based on business objectives, compliance requirements, and customer engagement goals.

We’ll cover some of the most usual questions about common documents to help you get started translating for your business.

How Do I Translate Contracts and Legal Agreements?

Legal translation requires absolute precision to ensure that contracts, agreements, and compliance documents retain their original meaning in every language. A single mistranslation in a contract could result in financial losses, legal disputes, or compliance violations. A mistranslation of a term like “shall” vs. “may”, or “termination” vs. “expiration”, can lead to misinterpretation and breach of contract claims.

Best practices for legal translation include:

• Using certified legal translators with expertise in international law.
• Maintaining consistency in terminology with a legal glossary.
• Ensuring localized legal language to reflect jurisdiction-specific requirements.
• Implementing a legal review process with in-country legal experts. 
• Using Translation Memory (TM) tools to ensure consistency across documents.

What’s the Best Way to Translate Technical Documents?

Technical translation requires industry-specific knowledge to ensure that terminology, instructions, and specifications are accurately conveyed. 

Additionally, since technical translation is commonly paired with global operations, this will apply to safety and compliance training, engineering and technical manuals, research papers, IT documentation, and user guides. 

Best practices for technical document translation include:

• Working with subject matter expert translators who specialize in the industry
• Using controlled language to ensure clarity and consistency
• Applying Translation Memory (TM) tools to standardize terminology
• Incorporating Desktop Publishing (DTP) services to maintain formatting integrity
• Conducting rigorous quality assurance reviews before publication

For example, a U.S.-based engineering company expanding into the Latin American market may have a need for localized conversions for units of measurement to ensure clarity and usability for regional end users and/or stakeholders.

How Does Translation Impact Patents and Intellectual Property?

Patent translation is one of the most complex and legally sensitive types of translation. Companies seeking to protect intellectual property (IP) across international markets must ensure that patent filings, invention disclosures, and technical drawings are accurately translated. Errors in patent translation can result in legal disputes, loss of patent protection, and intellectual property theft.

Key considerations for patent translation:

• Using expert patent translators familiar with patent law and technical terminology.
• Ensuring compliance with international patent offices such as the USPTO, EPO, and WIPO.
• Maintaining absolute accuracy in descriptions, claims, and legal terminology.

Why Is Marketing Collateral Translation Important for Global Businesses?

Marketing requires localization to ensure that messaging resonates with different cultural audiences. A direct translation of an advertising slogan can result in cultural misinterpretation or offensive messaging in another market.

Best practices for translating marketing materials:

• Using transcreation to adapt brand messaging without losing impact.
• Customizing visuals, colors, and images for cultural appropriateness.
• Ensuring SEO optimization for translated digital content.
• Maintaining brand tone and style across languages.

For instance, Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan had to be adapted in different markets while preserving its core motivational message. A direct translation wouldn’t have had the same effect, so localized versions were created to resonate with different audiences.

How Do I Maintain Brand Consistency in Translated Documents?

Brand consistency is crucial for global businesses to ensure that their messaging, tone, and values remain intact across languages. This is especially important in marketing, corporate communications, and legal documents.

Strategies to maintain brand consistency include:

• Developing translation support tools like a glossary or style guide.
• Using a Translation Memory (TM) database to ensure consistency.
• Assigning dedicated translators who understand the brand’s voice.
• Conducting post-translation quality checks and brand alignment reviews.

Companies like Coca-Cola and Apple have strict brand guidelines that ensure their global content remains consistent and culturally relevant in every market.

What Are Best Practices for Translating HR Policies?

HR document translation ensures that workplace policies, employee handbooks, and compliance guidelines are clearly understood by a multilingual workforce. Best practices include:

• Using legally compliant terminology for workplace regulations
• Maintaining consistency across all translated HR documents
• Ensuring accessibility for employees with diverse language needs
• Adapting policies for cultural and legal differences in each market
• Conducting internal reviews with HR professionals before distribution

For example, Google operates in over 50 countries, requiring localized HR policies that comply with regional labor laws while maintaining the company’s global HR standards.

Need help with translation for your business?

Investing in professional document translation ensures legal compliance, brand consistency, and effective communication in global markets. Whether translating contracts, marketing materials, technical manuals, or HR policies, businesses must work with experienced language service providers to ensure accuracy, cultural relevance, and regulatory compliance.

Interpro Translation Solutions ensures that your content is accurate, engaging, and fully functional in any language.

Talk to Interpro about your translation & localization plan.

FAQs

What types of business documents need translation?

Common business documents include contracts, HR policies, technical manuals, financial reports, and marketing materials.

Why is legal document translation so critical?

A mistranslated legal contract can cause compliance violations, lawsuits, or financial loss. Accuracy is essential.

How does translation help with patents and intellectual property?

Accurate translation of patents ensures legal protection across global jurisdictions and prevents IP theft.

How do businesses ensure brand consistency across languages?

By using multilingual style guides, glossaries, and Translation Memory, businesses maintain a unified global voice.

Explore Services

Consulting • Translation • eLearning • Video & Multimedia • Document

References

USPTO – Patents

European Patent Office (EPO) 

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Nike Global Campaigns

The post Insights from Translating 350 Million Words: Get Started Translating for Your Business appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

As your organization scales across borders or serves a growing multilingual workforce, business-critical documents become your backbone. Whether you’re launching a product overseas, onboarding new team members, or communicating regulatory policies, the accuracy and cultural relevance of your documents can make (or break) your success.

That’s where the Interpro team steps in. With more than 30 years of experience, we specialize in translating the documents that keep your business running in every language.

Why Translation Is a Strategic Growth Lever

Every document your company produces carries weight. Safety manuals, HR policies, product datasheets, marketing materials, and training content all convey essential information. When these documents aren’t accessible to your global audience in their native language, opportunities are lost.

A majority of our clients at Interpro are large organizations that understand clear communication drives better results faster. This makes translation quality a critical factor in successful global growth.

Translation supports all departments that rely heavily on communication. Clear communication enables every department for every industry to work smarter, faster, and more effectively on a global scale:

• Marketing: Increase global business growth by localizing campaigns, product launches, and customer education materials. This allows for better conversions and ensures brand consistency across markets.
• Human Resources: Deliver inclusive onboarding, training, and employee handbooks in every language your workforce speaks. You can also reduce miscommunication, improve employee engagement, and company liability.
• Compliance & Legal: Mitigate legal risks by translating safety protocols, contracts, and compliance documentation accurately.
• C-Suite & Executive Teams: Reduce language barriers that could be preventing market expansion and revenue growth by making products and services accessible to international customers and partners.

Take our client Armstrong International, for example. As a global manufacturer serving clients in over 100 countries, they needed a way to educate their workforce on safety and expand their brand into 14 languages globally. Their CMO approached Interpro knowing they needed a strong translation partner who understood the importance of brand consistency across global markets. Armstrong needed to protect consumer trust with accurately localized complex technical manuals and marketing materials. Interpro became their trusted partner, offering accurate translations that maintained brand consistency, worked seamlessly with in-country reviewers, and ensured compliance and customer satisfaction around the world.

Example of technical translations Interpro provided Armstrong International

“Armstrong International has worked with Interpro on a wide range of language localization projects, and each time they have exceeded our expectations in terms of quality, turnaround, and value. Interpro’s localization and desktop publishing expertise is unrivaled, but the hallmark of our relationship with Interpro is the manner in which they engage our global team on a personal level. Simply, Interpro’s attention to customer service and detail are second-to-none.”

– Jeffrey T. Nowicki, Chief Marketing Officer

Interpro has worked with Armstrong to:

• Develop a glossary for brand consistency and long-term cost savings.
• Create a localization strategy and logistics plan to convert their library of legacy translated marketing materials to their new CMS.
• Translate Armstrong University, their Human Resources’ online library and training portal, containing 150 educational and safety courses.
• Translate and localize their global website into 9 languages.
• Continue to integrate with their team regularly and attend marketing strategy sessions to provide consultative advice for projects.

Every document your company produces carries weight. Essential information for safety, talent development, sales, and legal compliance requires professional translation. When these documents aren’t trusted by your global audience in their native language, opportunities are lost and miscommunications can lead to legal trouble.

What Documents Are Considered Business-Critical to Translate?

Your specific needs will vary, but our team sees organizations translate the following critical documents frequently:

• Employee handbooks and HR policies
• Product user manuals and technical guides
• Legal contracts and compliance documentation
• Onboarding training, courses, and presentation decks
• Websites, emails, and SMS communications
• Customer-facing sales materials like brochures, catalogs, and advertising

When documents like these are translated with precision, they help you meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and scale communication in a streamlined workflow. So let’s talk about managing the translation process to ensure your translation investment has an ROI.

Investment vs Quality: Choosing Professional Translation, AI Translation, or both?

One question we see from clients: Should you try to 1) translate internally, 2) translate with AI tools, or 3) work with a professional translation company?

All three solutions have their place in translation, and all have their nuances.

1. Can internal bilingual coworkers be used to translate business materials? 

Many companies have a few bilingual employees, and possibly a Localization Manager. Translating internally is always an option if you have the expertise and bandwidth for simple projects. We find many clients start this way to kickstart their internal processes, and then ask the Interpro team to step in and help with strategy and execution when they are ready to really scale. 

Interpro’s Suggestion: We highly recommend a consulting call with our team to answer your questions, even if you don’t intend to start using translation services today. We are frequently able to provide advice on how to prepare for document translation effectively, which can help organizations from wasting critical time and money in the translation process. 

2. Can I use AI to translate? 

AI translation software is widely available through free or low-cost tools. Some applications and platforms, such as Articulate or WordPress, already have integrated AI translation tools. It’s tempting to rely on automation and seemingly easy translation solutions. But when it comes to business-critical content, we have frequently provided quality scoring services that consistently indicate these tools are not yet good enough for professional organizations.

Interpro’s Suggestion: If you’re strongly considering AI for translation, weigh all your options. It might make sense to use this for quick translations where urgency matters more than being 100% correct. Or it might make sense if you are testing processes and don’t have a budget line for translation yet. However, for professional communications, we still recommend human-assisted processes, where a professional linguist reviews and corrects AI translations. 

3. Why choose to invest in professional translation?

The translation process is complex, and in business speed matters. It’s almost guaranteed that with the first two methods something will go wrong or the process will be extremely slow and cumbersome. When you choose a professional translation service like Interpro, you’re choosing professional subject matter experts who use the best translation tools on the market to ensure accuracy and make the process easy.

• • Avoid costly miscommunications: AI can misinterpret context or nuance, especially in brand and marketing projects or educational material.
  • Ensure compliance: Regulatory and legal documentation must be accurate and defensible. A mis-translation in safety protocols, technical guides, legal contracts, or HR policies could open the door to liability.
  • Preserve brand integrity: Human translators understand tone, voice, and audience – all shape how your brand is received.
  • Address formatting challenges: With Multilingual Desktop Publishing (DTP), we ensure your documents look just as polished in Mandarin as they do in English.
  • Maximize translation memory savings: We build and maintain translation memories for consistent terminology and faster delivery.
  • AI optional processes: If you choose to incorporate AI into your processes, a linguist will always review and either approve or edit the translation.

With Armstrong International, professional translation support has been vital to the speed of their global growth strategy. Because Interpro can time exactly when we will deliver projects, their teams can plan and coordinate internal communications and marketing campaigns with confidence. They also know Interpro will keep the integrity of their engineering specs, manuals, and product brochures. Professional translation ensures the layout, terminology, and formatting are accurate, accessible, and ready to use.

How to Preserve Formatting in Professional Documents During Translation

Ever find yourself asking: how do I translate a document without losing formatting?

Some projects are more than just documents. Chances are if you’re working with a file from Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office, you’ll need Multilingual Desktop Publishing. 

Interpro’s engineering team works with virtually any file type and platform including all Adobe Creative Cloud file types. We manage the translation and formatting (DTP) to ensure your materials are ready to use upon delivery.

For Armstrong International, this means they can trust Interpro to handle everything from highly technical spec sheets to polished marketing brochures in over any language. Our ability to integrate with their internal workflows and collaborate with their in-country reviewers has made us a reliable extension of their team.

How it Works: The Document Translation Process

The document translation process is designed so you provide the documents (either Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, InDesign, or any other file type) and we provide the document back to you quickly in any language; perfectly formatted and ready to use.

Interpro’s Document Translation Process in 9 Steps

Our document translation process includes:

1. Complimentary consultation to establish your specific needs/concerns, and provide our suggested solutions.
2. Provide our team the source files, and a subject matter expert analyzes content.
3. Receive a not-to-exceed quote.
4. Linguist pairing by subject matter expertise and language.
5. Schedule kickoff call to align the team.
6. Translation, revision, proofreading, and formatting (DTP if needed).
7. The project manager will relay questions between you and the translators and provide weekly project updates.
8. Final translations undergo quality assurance by native speakers.
9. The complete project is packaged and delivered in the same format as the source files.

With Interpro, there’s no scrambling to reformat, no hunting for compatible tools, and no language left behind. We work in the tools you already use and meet your internal standards for consistency and compliance.

Ready to Translate? Start With a Single Document

Find out how easy it can be to get the translation right the first time. Get the behind-the-scenes professional translation experience and request a free sample translation. 

We’ll take you through  the document translation process with one of your documents to show how Interpro makes it seamless to get accurate translations, tone, and formatting every time.

Document translation is the start of your growth strategy, your risk mitigation plan, and your key to clear communication. Whether you’re targeting international markets or supporting U.S. audiences with English-as-a-Second Language, we tailor translation solutions that help you scale with confidence.

Get a Sample Translation

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The Language Limitations of PDFs and How to Overcome Them

One of the most appealing features of a PDF is that once a document is saved as such, its content can’t be altered, and it will look exactly the same no matter who views it, or which platform is used to view it. Margins don’t change. Text placement isn’t altered. Your message is preserved consistently and accurately.

What happens when the authoring language of your PDF isn’t the language that a reader understands best? Perhaps you’ve designed a manual for a product, and now your product is expanding to a global market. Maybe you’ve created an HR manual, and now your workforce is expanding internationally. Whatever the reason, as your business grows, you may need to make your PDF available in multiple languages. However, a translator can’t just open a PDF and start typing in the translation as PDFs cannot, in most cases, be edited. The bright side is that there are several different options to make that PDF editable and translation-ready!

Understanding PDF Types

Before you explore your PDF translation options, it is important to understand how that PDF document was created. Many times, when we read a PDF, we are actually viewing the published version from a source file authored in Word, Power Point, Adobe InDesign, or Illustrator, for example. In essence, we aren’t looking at the source text; we are actually viewing an image of text. In this state, PDFs can be difficult to edit. When planning on translating a PDF, it is always advisable to provide the source files, if available.

Working on the source files rather than the PDFs is the preferred procedure for several reasons as it saves time and cost. If we receive only the PDF for translation, we need to extract text manually (or with the help of a software application designed for this purpose).

This process is time consuming (time is money) and is also error-prone (e.g. the software extracts misspelled words if they are present in the PDF). More time would be also needed to complete the final formatting of the translated files, as compared to the time that would be required if we work with source files instead.

PDF Files Aren’t Just About Text

Pictures aren’t just worth 1,000 words; they’re invaluable, especially when you consider the purpose of a PDF. Many times, PDFs include instructions and tutorials aimed at educating clients, customers, or employees. The meaning would become garbled if the text was no longer aligned with the images. As a result, PDF translation is about images as much as it is about words.

In this instance, you would likely want a translated PDF to match the source formatting. The most cost-effective way to translate a PDF is to provide your translation partner with all source files used to create the PDF. Recreation of a PDF without source files can be time consuming, as well as potentially having a negative impact on quality. For example, without source files, images may remain as low-resolution. Thinking about the amount of time, skill, and expertise that go into creating a source language file, you probably already realize that PDF translation often requires professional support.

When to Call in a Pro for PDF Translation

If your business is just starting to expand to overseas markets, you might feel that translating your PDF is not really necessary. Given the information below, you probably want to re-think that!

Please take this into consideration:

• Where will your PDF “live”? Is it a link buried at the bottom of your site? Or will it be heavily trafficked?
• Will it be digital or print? Are you planning to only have people access your PDF electronically? Will you be printing brochures, catalogs, or merchandise guides?
• Who is your new audience? By expanding the languages of your PDF, who are you able to reach? Do they just speak a different language or are they also part of a different culture?

No company wants to be associated with errors. Whether it’s bad information or a simple typo, mistakes look unprofessional. Furthermore, when it comes to localizing documents, most of the time we are not simply “translating” word for word.

We are adapting the original content for the new target audience, ensuring that the original message is accurately conveyed. As part of this process, it may also be necessary to modify other elements within the document, such as images or even the choice of colors on a page, because these non-verbal components may very well carry as much meaning as the translation itself. Localizing these elements also helps your brand maintain its integrity and core values by not creating content that is culturally insensitive or offensive.

It is always best to have in mind all aspects of the localization process, and deliver a final product that will be positively received by the target market. This is especially true with PDFs, because recalling a PDF after it is distributed internally to staff or externally to clients can prove difficult.

With all these variables in mind, it is worth noting that a professional translation team isn’t just comprised of language experts. Multilingual desktop publishing specialists also work as part of a PDF translation team, ensuring that the translated PDFs are visually appealing and mirror the source language layout as closely as possible. These experts understand everything from white space to text expansion and contraction. As a result, your translated PDF is as accurate and appealing to your new audience as it is to the original audience. The end goal is to provide a localized PDF that looks the same – if not better – than the source language it is translated from.

Final Thoughts on PDF Translation

How many PDFs do you come across throughout your workday? Whether you are sharing information with co-workers or clients, employers or employees, there is a good chance that PDFs are part of your everyday life. When your everyday life connects you with the rest of the world, PDF translation is essential. Understanding the various options that exist when it comes to translating PDFs can help you make the right call for your company.

The post PDF Translation: 4 Facts You Need to Know Before Calling a Pro appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.