Translating a technical website is different from ‘regular’ technical translations. How to convey your vision in another language, without the translation losing a degree of readability and without making the site more difficult to find?
VH Vertical Packaging in Weert, province Limburg, uses special packaging techniques to guarantee product freshness. Grated cheese, lettuce leaves or sliced carrots; VH Vertical Packaging’s hermetically sealed packaging machines, equipped with the appropriate gas flushing and oxygen levels, guarantees optimal shelf life. The company supplies packaging machines to the food and non-food industries, throughout Europe and, increasingly, also abroad.
Over the border
With a growing demand from abroad, it was time to make the website more internationally accessible. Simone van Andel, marketing officer at VH Vertical Packaging, rewrote the website texts and asked MK Vertalingen to translate them into German and English. Sylvia Blokker, the MK Vertalingen account manager for the Limburg region, has enjoyed a strong relationship with VH Vertical Packaging for many years. She had previously delivered technical document translations, including manuals and interface texts.
Translating in a different way
For this project, MK Vertalingen chose a different method of translating. There is much more involved when translating a technical website than, for example, when translating a product description. For website texts, readability and accessibility are crucial. Visitors to a website want to be able to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily. This means that the translations must be written clearly and concisely, using spot-on terminology in the target language. Of course, this requires knowledge of the packaging sector, technical expertise and a fluent writing style.
Freek Jacobs, business leader at VH Vertical Packaging explains: “The translation of a technical website is a very sensitive matter. We also need to convey our vision in other languages without compromising readability and making sure the site and product are still easy to find. MK Vertalingen has certainly succeeded in achieving this requirement!”
More information about VH Vertical Packaging can be found on the website. The video below shows one of their packaging machines in operation. For more information about the translation of technical websites, please send us an email, call us on 020-7055182 or request a quote directly.