Translation into three languages of a manual in LaTeX format

The challenge

Un’importante azienda che sviluppa e commercializza apparecchiature da laboratorio avanzate ha usato il formato LaTeX per impaginare il manuale di un citometro a flusso di sua produzione.

For the sale of this complex equipment abroad, they needed a partner who could not only translate the manual into Spanish, French and Czech, but also to handle the LaTeX format for processing and layout of texts, mathematical formulas, and graphics, such as images and flowcharts.

The solution

For this project, Qabiria relied on its LaTeX experts to prepare the source file for translation. Preparation consists mainly of optimizing the original LaTeX format to be interpreted correctly by the translation software we use.

At this stage we removed all parts that could interfere with the translation, such as paragraph breaks, tabulations or forced syllable separation, but without altering the layout of the manual.

In the next phase of the project, we sent the files to the translators, with specific instructions and maintaining constant contact with them, so that we could intervene immediately in case of problems or doubts, given the complexity of the assignment.

This lightened the subsequent quality control work we had to do on the translated documents, which was not particularly challenging. At this stage, we sifted through the entire text looking for inconsistencies and corrected them to ensure maximum consistency in terminology.

Finally, our LaTeX experts went into action again, checking the LaTeX code and fixing all the layout errors they found, especially in the equations, for which it was necessary to adapt symbols from one language to another.

The result

After a total of about two months of work, we delivered the manual in the three new languages to the client and are waiting for more assignments.

The feedback has been extremely positive: in particular, the client appreciated the rigor and professionalism with which we handled the entire project, from analysis of the volume of work to execution and final delivery.