Automotive Industry
Translations
Certified and standard-compliant.
What's so special about automotive industry translations?
Smooth integration in existing procurement processes.
Texts and documents of the automotive industry place three special demands on translators and translation agencies:
1) They are aimed at very different target audiences: customers, suppliers, and employees, and occasionally private or state institutions as well. Therefore, the texts are versatile in terms of content and style.
2) The function of these texts is wide-ranging: vehicle manuals, annual reports, advertising brochures, contracts, etc. However, few people are experts for both engineering as well as, say, finance, marketing, or law. Even for a particular language pair, a whole team of translators is therefore sometimes necessary to adequately capture the peculiarities of different text types in the target language.
3) Due to global supply chains, seamless integration into existing procurement processes is often essential. Any delay can affect the entire ordering and production process. Meeting deadlines is therefore particularly important in the automotive industry.
With a network of over 2,000 specialist translators, 1) and 2) are no problem for us. Depending on the language pair, subject area and text type, we assign the translator who has all the necessary skills.
To do justice to 3), our translation agency has an IT department that specialises in the development of API interfaces. This allows us to offer flexible, scalable solutions, even for rare and unusual needs or requirements.
Automotive texts
that we regularly translate
- Operating instructions
- Brochures & catalogues
- Vehicle manuals
- Annual reports
- Patents
- Safety instructions
- Technical documentations
- Contracts
- Websites
Automotive translations: a part of supply chain management
Quality, on time.
For machines to function smoothly, they need to be carefully fine-tuned. This also applies to supply chains. These are as efficient and secure as their weakest link. If a supplier’s delivery is delayed, this may affect the entire production process. Especially in times of “just-in-time” production, reliable time management is therefore one of the most important criteria for choosing the right supplier.
As a translation supplier, we are aware of being part of a machinery that you have carefully calibrated and oiled. Therefore, your standards are also our standards. High quality, even when time is of the essence. How does that work?
Term databases contain terms that have already been translated and checked for accuracy. They are then automatically inserted when they reappear. The benefit: accuracy and consistency of technical vocabulary, even across different documents and projects. It’s worth investing in the creation of such a database when you frequently need texts to be translated.
Translation memories automatically check whether certain phrases or sentences have already been translated in the past. This allows us, for example, to translate technical documents, which are often only slightly changed with each new product generation, faster and cheaper.
Choice and integration of the translation agency
A few pieces of advice.
In the article “How to Strategically Source Translation Services”, Armand Brevig recommends that company choose and involve translation agencies early in the production cycle. The reason: Brand communication is often an important factor in the success and failure of a product. In the video, he also explains why it is important to involve the relevant stakeholders in the choice of translation agency as well.
Quality management for you and your customers
From SAE J2450 to ISO 17100.
Being part of a supply chain means, among other things, not only orienting oneself to one’s own quality standards, but also to those of the customers and clients. Of course, this also applies to translators and translation agencies.
For example, the automotive industry has been using the SAE standard J2450 since 2005 to assess and statistically evaluate the quality of translations. For this purpose, the error frequencies are recorded in the following categories:
- Terminological errors
- Content errors
- Omissions
- Structural errors
- Spelling errors
- Incorrect punctuation
- Miscellaneous errors.
The number of errors as well as their severity, i.e. whether they are minor or major, are documented. The result is a quality matrix that you can use to compare and assess translations, translators, and translation agencies. Perfect quality management.
Outside the automotive industry, the standard ISO 17100 is particularly relevant for translation agencies. In translations according to this standard, an additional correction loop by a second specialist translator is added.
Normally, the requirements of ISO 17100 go far beyond those of SAE J2450. Nevertheless, both standards can be beneficially combined. The SAE J2450 matrix helps the second native translator to focus on those aspects of the translation that are important for you and your customers. This also helps to speed up the post-editing process.
Your free quote
It costs nothing to ask. Not asking does.
Do you simply to check in and see whether we can translate a particular text for you? Do you want to make sure that we can comply with certain automotive industry standards when translating? Are you looking for a translation agency for a long-term cooperation? Are interested in developing an interface? These are all great reasons to get in touch with us. We will be happy to discuss the details of your project with you.