Graphic File Formats and Translation

Using technology available in our industry, native graphic file formats are easy to translate. Long gone are the days when you had to worry about having to ask your graphic designer for assistance with extracting the text for translation and then reconstructing the file in the target language.

We very much prefer working with a native file format – rather than a PDF document – and you can receive a print-ready result that does not require any additional work on your end.

Translation of text in file formats such as Adobe InDesign or Illustrator generally includes the following steps:

– Extraction of the text for translation (usually in an interchange format such idml)
– Translation, linguistic review and quality assurance of the text
– Reconstruction of the graphic file with translated text, including text within images
– Adjustments for expansion or reduction of text space, selection of the correct language, font, and updating links
– Final desktop publishing quality assurance

If the target language is one that is written right-to-left, such as Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew or Urdu, the final document must be processed in the ME (Middle Eastern) version of the graphic design software. .

In short, graphic file formats are easy to process and having your translation provider handle them for you not only represents a time saving measure but also limits your risks.

If we handle translation only, without the graphic file, your graphic designer will have to be the one to insert the text into the file. Since they are likely not a speaker of the target language they can easily skip, misplace or inappropriately separate text. They will also not be able to see if all diacritical marks are displayed correctly. Just remember you will need final quality assurance done on the target language text and it should definitely be completed by he same service who provided the translation.