Documentation, Online Help, training courses, web pages are written while a product is being developed in one country. Why not write them for an international audience and prepare them for translation and localization at the same time? This helps save money and time that you can use elsewhere.

BeatBabel technical writers are experts. They assist your writing team in creating information that is internationalized from the get-go. If you have thought about single-sourcing, we are the solution. If you want to publish your manual or brochure in Arabic and are not sure what layout issues you may be facing - BeatBabel will help you.

The source of an accurate technical translation often relies on good technical writing. Below are a few tips on how to increase the usability and enhance the readability of your technical documentation:

• Use clear language in English to remove ambiguity: if you are using long and complex sentences that can be difficult to understand and read in English, chances are it will be hard to translate and will read worse in Spanish or French.
• A consistent style can often mean enhanced readability. Why reinvent the wheel for every manual? For the best use of Translation Memory tools you want to stay consistent in your source language. It will increase the repetitions and leveragability of your content and will help reduce your translation bill.
• Passive forms are common in English but many languages do not use the passive as much as English. The same goes with genitives and over use of adjectives: "BeatBabel's talented technical writing and localization team" for example would not translate well in most foreign languages and would become difficult to read in French. 
• Create glossaries and style guides that will help you create guidelines when writing several manuals. You can then pass those on to BeatBabel's translation teams to increase quality, accuracy and shorter review cycles.
• In your user manuals, you should think about linking your graphics rather than embedding them. Otherwise, they may need to be localized separately by using a graphics editor. And when you use callouts, remember that most languages have a text swell of 25% and what looked good in English will look small and crowded in French or Spanish... A solution is to use numbers rather than text in your graphics' callout boxes and reference these numbers in a separate text box.

When information is written with localization in mind, it does not have to be adapted later in the process and will also avoid mistranslations. That is why BeatBabel's approach to helping clients before localization starts improves time to market and reduces overall cost.

Read more about our Project management, Linguistic or Design teams and Click here for a quote