When you ask for a professional translation service for your company, the most common rate is per word. However, have you ever been charged extra for the layout of translations? This fee is usually included in documents in which design is an essential part of the final product. In this article, I want to talk to you about what Desktop PublishingDesktop Publishing Translation is and how it is related to the document translation services you hire.

What Is Desktop Publishing?

Desktop Publishing or DTP is about document design. With this service, elements of a document such as written text, visuals, or even audiovisual elements can be organized. This practice is common in magazines, books, catalogs, or any other material in which design plays an important part in the document. Therefore, formatting, font, line spacing, non-editable items, and other graphic elements are part of a desktop publisher’s job.

When translating this type of documents, it is necessary to take into account some things.

The first thing is the language because this one determines the extension and format of the document. If the document is originally in English and the target language is German, you will need more space for the final text; after all, is well known that English is a language with short words and it can say many things with fewer words, on the other hand, German is a language with extensive words and long sentences. This can result in text moving around, images and graphics overlapping words, and a lot of other formatting errors.

The problem is bigger when it is about a multilingual project because the quantity of characters affects abruptly the space. Is not just about translation, it also is necessary to accommodate the content.

When Is Desktop Publishing necessary?

Desktop Publishing is especially necessary or useful in the following situations:

• If you want your projects to look flawless and perfectly organized according to their original format.
• When the original documents have a specific design format.
• When translating a multilingual project.
• When the design of your documents is an essential part of them.

Desktop Publishing Process in Translation

When asking for a quote, the translator o translation agency will check two things. The first one is the word count in your document and the second is the design. The desktop publishing service will be taken into account if the design needs to be adjusted. To avoid mistakes and being charged more than expected, I recommend that you ask for a quote first to confirm if your project will need this service to obtain a quality final product.

When the translation service is confirmed, the first step will be to verify that there are no non-editable elements. For example, verify that your file is not a PDF of a photograph or scanned document, that there is no text in the form of images, and so on. If your document has one or two of these characteristics, the desktop publisher should do the necessary modifications. This is because translators work with software that only identifies text. Otherwise, if the document is not modified to be completely editable, the translator will not be capable of translating those non-editable elements.

Once the translation is finished, the file is returned to the desktop publisher. It will have to verify that the images have not been moved, that the text is not overlapped, that there are no blank spaces, and all those elements involved in the design.

Desktop Publishing Tools

With all this process, you may think that your translation will never be done! Just as translators have CAT tools to make their work easier, desktop publishers also count on a secret weapon. Tools are used in desktop publishing to help speed up the process and improve the quality of the final product. The most popular are:

• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Illustrator
• Microsoft Publisher
• Adobe PageMaker

Now that you know a little more about the translation process, keep this in mind for your next multilingual or design project. Translation and Desktop Publishing are usually related and together can make high-quality translations for your company.

In Traduality Language Solutions, we offer professional quality services, where we ensure that your entire document will be translated. Visit the translation section on our website to see the translation packages we have for you.