“I bought a machine in China but it was delivered without a user manual”.

Earlier this year we were contacted by a vending operations company based in the USA that had purchased a pizza vending machine from a manufacturer in China, and had it delivered to its headquarters.

However, there was a slight issue with the machine when it arrived at the company. It was delivered without any kind of operating instructions or user manual, and none of the staff at the company had any idea how to operate it.

A little surprised, the GM of the vending operations company contacted the manufacturer in China, who gave him some frustrating news – that indeed no user manual whatsoever (not even one in Chinese) existed for the machine!

Machine Purchased from China Without a User Manual

# Buying a Machine from China Without an Operating Manual

With a limited warranty, and no way of sending the machine back to China without spending thousands on shipping costs, the GM of the vending operations company in USA had no choice but to find a way to a have a clear, concise, comprehensive, and professional user, operations and maintenance manual written up in English for his vending machine and his operations team.

But how would this be possible? And who could help? The vending operations company is based in the USA, with a machine that only the manufacturer based in Southern China knows how to operate correctly. The GM went online and started his search.

Who Can Help Me Write a Manual for an Imported Machine from China?

# Professional Technical Writing for Industrial Equipment

After contacting a few companies who were unable to help, stating that it was beyond their scope of services, he then contacted HI-COM, to see if they had a solution. Thanks to HI-COM’s wealth of knowledge and experience of writing, producing and translating technical user manuals, as well as a permanent presence of a production team in China, the GM had come to the right place.

However, this was not a typical request. In most cases, the client already has a certain amount of content to be used in their manual, such as product information, specifications, user instructions, safety guidelines, images and diagrams of the product. But for this project, HI-COM was effectively starting with a completely blank canvas, as no such content was provided to us by the client, as it simply did not exist!

After discussing with the client and HI-COM’s internal production team, it was concluded that there was only one real solution, which was only possible thanks to HI-COM’s unique attributes:

• Its in-house staff, made up of experienced native English and Chinese translators and technical writers
• Its presence in China

The proposed solution was for two members of HI-COM’S production team (one English and one Chinese), to travel from their Shanghai office to visit the manufacturer of the vending machine in Guangzhou to view the machine and gather all the information they needed to write up the user manual for their American client, and so they did!

Creating a Custom User Manual

# How to Get a User Manual for an Imported Machine

Upon arrival at the manufacturer’s factory, there was no reception area, and not a single employee spoke a word of English, so it was vital that HI-COM had a Chinese native with them to find the right person to speak to and arrange the viewing of the machine.

This was also the case when it came to viewing the machine. The machine’s head engineer did not speak any English, so HI-COM’s Chinese Project Manager, who is fluent in English, was able to explain to his English colleague what was being said by the engineer while he was walking them through the components, mechanisms and functions of the machine.

HI-COM’s team made sure that all conversations were recorded, and that sufficient photos and video footage were taken, to equip them with the content they needed.

Technical Writing for Industrial Equipment

# Manual Writing for Chinese Equipment

After arriving back in Shanghai, HI-COM’S production team started work on the manual. Thanks to their experience of writing up other manuals, they split the content into clear, easy-to-read chapters, packed with photos they had taken during their visit.

After finishing a first draft, the team sent the manual to the client for review, and then after a few rounds of modifications and feedback from the client’s technical team, the content was validated. It was now time to work on the presentation of the manual.

Design and Layout of Technical User Manuals

Thanks to HI-COM’s in-house DTP and document layout service offering, the client did not need to look elsewhere to finalize his manual. He was able to liaise directly with HI-COM’s design team to obtain the exact layout, style, and format he was looking for, and any last minute changes and updates could be taken care of with a minimum of fuss.

Thanks to HI-COM’s expertise and professionalism, the GM of the vending operations company now had a clear, concise, and comprehensive user manual for his team, enabling them to operate and maintain the vending machine that had previously been laying idle and useless, and in turn bring in valuable income for his company.

Need a Custom User Manual for Your Imported Equipment?

Contact Us Today!

All companies have a brand identity, whether they’ve thought about it or not. This identity may have been carefully and consciously constructed following countless meeting room discussions involving various departments and external consultants, or it may have simply developed organically over time, with little or no thought put into it.

What’s important is how this identity is perceived by the general public, and particularly by potential customers. Plus, it’s not so much the brand’s identity itself, but how consistently it is applied across every aspect of a company, from its reception signage, right through to its pens and pencils.

In this article we will focus not so much on drawing up the brand guidelines themselves, but more on how to incorporate your brand’s identity into your documentation, such as in technical manuals, product specifications, and price lists, to make them stand out from those of other companies.

Let ‘s say your manufacturing department has written up a user manual for one of your key products, and it currently looks like this:

The manual is informative, comprehensive, and easy to follow, for sure. But does it reflect your brand’s identity? Will users and customers remember that this product belongs to your company after reading it?

We were given the above manual by one of our clients, who asked us to rework the layout and the design, and bring it in line with the company’s identity, as presented on their web site.

Given the nature of the document, the client was looking for something clean and minimal, but also something that showed it was truly theirs, as in the past the company had issues with other companies copying their plain manuals, due to a lack of their brand’s identity being featured in them.

The result was as follows:

The process for this work was very simple; the client specified the fonts, logos and colors to be used. But even if the client is unable to provide anything, our designers can take the necessary elements from the client’s web site and incorporate them into their documentation.

Even simple documents such as price lists can make a great impression on clients if they are well presented, and match the company’s brand identity, such as in the example below:

Once the layout of your documents is in place, you may wish to have them translated into other languages.

Find out more about how HI-COM can help you inject your brand’s identity into your technical documentation here.

User manuals serve to provide instructions to end users on how to properly and effectively operate the product. Other names or forms of user manuals include user guides, technical documentation, or operational manual. For software, this could include terms such as quick start guide or software manual.

In today’s globalized economy, products are manufactured all across the world. That makes proper user manual translation crucial in ensuring international end users have an understanding of how to use your products safely and effectively.

Translation Services Market size was valued at USD 39.37 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 46.22 Billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 2.07% from 2021 to 2028.

As the official source of technical communication from the manufacturer, properly translated user manuals are not only important for international end users but are also a legally mandatory prerequisite for selling in many regions around the world.

What Should a Great User Manual Include?

As a key part of user experience, a great user manual should be crafted with the end user in mind. User manuals should aim to be clear and concise, including key product information and warnings of potential hazards. Users should be able to quickly find what they need to get started with using your product.

Plain Language

User manuals should always be written with the end user in mind. Limit the use of technical jargon and superfluous language to keep the document as accessible to as wide a range of users as possible.

Visuals

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Regardless of language, everyone can understand pictures and the more visuals your user manual has, the more you save on translation fees. A key part of IKEA’s international success has been their prioritization of visual instructions over written instructions.

Simplicity

Keep the manual brief and concise. This includes not only text but also visuals. The simpler the user manual, the more likely end users will actually end up reading it.

Focus on the Problem

Understand why users need to read the user manual in the first place – to use your product to accomplish tasks. When writing about product features, focus on direct and simple explanations of how users how users can use each feature to achieve their goals.

Logical Hierarchy and Flow

Develop the user manual according to how the end user will be using your product. Focus on the basics of the product before explaining advanced features. Use headings and subheadings to categorize each step.

Table of Contents

Ensure that when a user reaches for the manual, they can find what they are looking for within a few page flips with a table of contents.

Searchable Content

With the ubiquity of internet access, today, user manuals are also hosted online. Ensure your user manual is optimized for the best features of internet browsers – the search function. This way, users can instantaneously scan the entire document for keywords they need to solve their problem.

Accessible Content

Creating accessible content doesn’t just mean having the manual in a variety of languages. Ensure your user manual is still accessible for end users who may be hard of hearing or visually impaired.

Good Design of User Manual 

Design for as wide a range of audiences as possible. Keep white space to a maximum and break up long lines of text. Keep graphics simple and make sure they translate across cultures. Ensure consistency in visual and written style across all documentation.

User Feedback

Sometimes, working on a product or a project for too long will bias you towards how you see the product. Getting feedback from end users help ensure you’re creating the user manual for them.

Links to Further Resources

Keeping your user manual simple is important. You don’t want to be overwhelming users with advanced information. Consider providing links or QR codes that lead to more detailed information for advanced users. For print documentation, this can also include an email and customer hotline number.

Legal Requirements

Each market has their own legal requirements for how user manuals are written and what it must include. For example, the European Economic Area (EEA), consisting of all 27 EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, has a standardized set of directives for CE marking, which stands for European Conformity.

The CE marking, required for specific products, indicates that the manufacturer declares product compliance with relevant EEA product safety legislation. For products that fall under the 25 CE directives or regulations, a CE marking is mandatory if it is to be sold in the EEA. These requirements include mandatory translation to language(s) of the country where the product is sold, intended use of the product, descriptions of foreseeable misuse of the product, risk analysis of the product, safety information, and information on packaging waste.

What Parts of the User Manual Content Should be Translated?

Aside from visuals, all parts of the user manual should be translated. The user manual should have corresponding translations of the below information in all target languages to guarantee legal compliance:

• Intended use
• Features/accessories
• Description of the main product elements
• Description of the user interface
• Safety warnings
• Installation instructions
• Description of how to use/operate the product
• Troubleshooting section and instructions on how to solve problems
• Maintenance information
• Repair information
• Information on disposal of the product and packaging
• Technical specifications
• Table of content
• Index
• Glossary
• Warranty information
• Contact details

User Manual Translation Process

Helpful Tools for User Manual Translation by Yourself

CAT stands for Computer Assisted Translation Tool. These are translation memory tools that split large multilingual documents into segments. CAT can help save translators up to 35% of the workload by memorizing previously translated content. These tools not only save time, but also ensure style consistency and translation accuracy across various sets of documentation.

Professional User Manual Translation: Professionalism and Peace of Mind

Hiring professional translators for user manual translation provides more peace of mind for businesses. As user manuals are required for safety and legal reasons, and more importantly for end user well-being and overall user experience, hiring professional translators for the various languages included is advised.

Professional translators are able to localize to target area requirements. They understand the legal issues involved and are able to take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Finding professional translators well versed in the industry of your business is important to ensure accurate translation of technical terminology.

Readers can tell when a product manual is translated professionally. Grammatical errors and incorrect terminology will at best come off as untrustworthy to foreign users and at worst cause end users to improperly operate your product and open up your business to risk of potential legal troubles.

At HI-COM, we have a wide network of professional native translators specialized in all major industries. We offer professional full-suite multilingual user manual translation, saving your business costs and time looking for translators for each target language. As a China-based translation agency, we specialize in helping China-based companies expand abroad and international companies enter the Chinese market.

DTP Services for User Manual Translation

Every modern translation agency provides desktop publishing services, or DTP. At HI-COM, we value your time. We provide not only multilingual user manual translation but also DTP services to help your user manual look as professional as it reads. Our DTP team of technical designers help work on page-layout, graphic design, and international typesetting.

With native translators specialized in your industry and experienced technical designers to integrate all languages into your preferred format, (InDesign, AI, PDF, etc), HI-COM provides a one-stop solution for your multilingual technical documentation needs.

Contact us for your free consultation today!

Scan QR code to follow Localization and The Chinese Market Entry News or Contact us on WeChat: 

User manuals serve to provide instructions to end users on how to properly and effectively operate the product. Other names or forms of user manuals include user guides, technical documentation, or operational manual. For software, this could include terms such as quick start guide or software manual.

In today’s globalized economy, products are manufactured all across the world. That makes proper user manual translation crucial in ensuring international end users have an understanding of how to use your products safely and effectively.

As the official source of technical communication from the manufacturer, properly translated user manuals are not only important for international end users but are also a legally mandatory prerequisite for selling in many regions around the world.

What Should a Great User Manual Include?

As a key part of user experience, a great user manual should be crafted with the end user in mind. User manuals should aim to be clear and concise, including key product information and warnings of potential hazards. Users should be able to quickly find what they need to get started with using your product.

Plain Language

User manuals should always be written with the end user in mind. Limit the use of technical jargon and superfluous language to keep the document as accessible to as wide a range of users as possible.

Visuals

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Regardless of language, everyone can understand pictures and the more visuals your user manual has, the more you save on translation fees. A key part of IKEA’s international success has been their prioritization of visual instructions over written instructions.

Simplicity

Keep the manual brief and concise. This includes not only text but also visuals. The simpler the user manual, the more likely end users will actually end up reading it.

Focus on the Problem

Understand why users need to read the user manual in the first place – to use your product to accomplish tasks. When writing about product features, focus on direct and simple explanations of how users how users can use each feature to achieve their goals.

Logical Hierarchy and Flow

Develop the user manual according to how the end user will be using your product. Focus on the basics of the product before explaining advanced features. Use headings and subheadings to categorize each step.

Table of Contents

Ensure that when a user reaches for the manual, they can find what they are looking for within a few page flips with a table of contents.

Searchable Content

With the ubiquity of internet access, today, user manuals are also hosted online. Ensure your user manual is optimized for the best features of internet browsers – the search function. This way, users can instantaneously scan the entire document for keywords they need to solve their problem.

Accessible Content

Creating accessible content doesn’t just mean having the manual in a variety of languages. Ensure your user manual is still accessible for end users who may be hard of hearing or visually impaired.

Good Design

Design for as wide a range of audiences as possible. Keep white space to a maximum and break up long lines of text. Keep graphics simple and make sure they translate across cultures. Ensure consistency in visual and written style across all documentation.

User Feedback

Sometimes, working on a product or a project for too long will bias you towards how you see the product. Getting feedback from end users help ensure you’re creating the user manual for them.

Links to Further Resources

Keeping your user manual simple is important. You don’t want to be overwhelming users with advanced information. Consider providing links or QR codes that lead to more detailed information for advanced users. For print documentation, this can also include an email and customer hotline number.

Legal Requirements

Each market has their own legal requirements for how user manuals are written and what it must include. For example, the European Economic Area (EEA), consisting of all 27 EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, has a standardized set of directives for CE marking, which stands for European Conformity.

The CE marking, required for specific products, indicates that the manufacturer declares product compliance with relevant EEA product safety legislation. For products that fall under the 25 CE directives or regulations, a CE marking is mandatory if it is to be sold in the EEA. These requirements include mandatory translation to language(s) of the country where the product is sold, intended use of the product, descriptions of foreseeable misuse of the product, risk analysis of the product, safety information, and information on packaging waste.

What Parts of the User Manual Content Should be Translated?

Aside from visuals, all parts of the user manual should be translated. The user manual should have corresponding translations of the below information in all target languages to guarantee legal compliance:

• Intended use
• Features/accessories
• Description of the main product elements
• Description of the user interface
• Safety warnings
• Installation instructions
• Description of how to use/operate the product
• Troubleshooting section and instructions on how to solve problems
• Maintenance information
• Repair information
• Information on disposal of the product and packaging
• Technical specifications
• Table of content
• Index
• Glossary
• Warranty information
• Contact details

User Manual Translation Process

Helpful Tools for User Manual Translation by Yourself

CAT stands for Computer Assisted Translation Tool. These are translation memory tools that split large multilingual documents into segments. CAT can help save translators up to 35% of the workload by memorizing previously translated content. These tools not only save time, but also ensure style consistency and translation accuracy across various sets of documentation.

Professional User Manual Translation: Professionalism and Peace of Mind

Hiring professional translators for user manual translation provides more peace of mind for businesses. As user manuals are required for safety and legal reasons, and more importantly for end user well-being and overall user experience, hiring professional translators for the various languages included is advised.

Professional translators are able to localize to target area requirements. They understand the legal issues involved and are able to take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Finding professional translators well versed in the industry of your business is important to ensure accurate translation of technical terminology.

Readers can tell when a product manual is translated professionally. Grammatical errors and incorrect terminology will at best come off as untrustworthy to foreign users and at worst cause end users to improperly operate your product and open up your business to risk of potential legal troubles.

At HI-COM, we have a wide network of professional native translators specialized in all major industries. We offer professional full-suite multilingual user manual translation, saving your business costs and time looking for translators for each target language. As a China-based translation agency, we specialize in helping China-based companies expand abroad and international companies enter the Chinese market.

DTP Services

Every modern translation agency provides desktop publishing services, or DTP. At HI-COM, we value your time. We provide not only multilingual user manual translation but also DTP services to help your user manual look as professional as it reads. Our DTP team of technical designers help work on page-layout, graphic design, and international typesetting.

With native translators specialized in your industry and experienced technical designers to integrate all languages into your preferred format, (InDesign, AI, PDF, etc), HI-COM provides a one-stop solution for your multilingual technical documentation needs.

HI-COM is a localization and multilingual communication agency dedicated to providing China-specific strategy, social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market!  Contact us for your free consultation today!

Scan QR code to follow Localization and The Chinese Market Entry News or Contact us on WeChat: 

Here is how to translate brochure to different languages efficiently! When working with marketing materials such as brochures, catalogues, websites it is essential to be consistent. How can you assure your translation quality? We are uncovering our industry secrets just for our readers.

Let’s say that your design and marketing departments have just spent the last few weeks lovingly putting together a killer brochure for a key trade show that’s coming up. But there’s just one small issue – the trade show is in China, and so far no plans have been made to produce the brochures in Chinese!

Given the immense size of China, and without a Chinese version of your brochure, you could be missing out on tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of potential new customers. The problem is that I can already hear the reactions from your teams; “it’ll be too complicated”, “there’s not enough time between now and the show”, “the translator won’t know how to use our design software” or “I doubt we’ll find anyone who understands our industry and our products”. All these so-called ‘problems’ can be solved much more easily than you may think, and this is where our knowledge and expertise  can help.

So, to provide you with a translated version of your brochure, with a page layout identical to that of your English version, all we would need from you are the source files you used to create the brochure. For example, if your design team created the brochure using Adobe InDesign, you would just need to send us the InDesign source file, pictures and fonts, and we’ll take care of all the steps right through to the creation of a high quality PDF that’s ready for the printing press.

So how do we Translate brochure from English to Chinese?

Ok, so you have just given us your InDesign files for translation, which include the page below. We will use this page as an example to guide you through our process.

Step 1: Conversion of your InDesign document to our translation tool

In order to translate brochure, catalogue or other file, first of all, we will convert your InDesign files to Trados, our translation tool. This tool allows us to translate the text in suitably sized segments, to ensure better accuracy and consistency, whilst keeping all the formatting of the original document in place. It also allows us to store the translated text in a translation memory, so that it can be used again for future projects. After converting the file to Trados, your text will appear as shown below:

Step 2: Translation and internal review of your brochure

Our translator will then translate your brochure text, inserting the translation of brochure into the corresponding empty segments to the right of the source text. The purple tags you can see relate to the formatting of the InDesign file. These tags are kept as they are, to ensure the formatting of the original file is preserved.  Once the translation and internal review is complete, the file will now appear as shown below:

At this point, you may wish to review the content of the brochure translation before we proceed to the design integration phase. We can therefore send you a bilingual file in Word format, allowing you to compare the translation with the original source text. This means that if you would like us to make changes to the translation, you can mark your changes directly in the Word file and send it back to us. We will then take these changes into account when we integrate the translation into the InDesign file.

Step 3: Integration of your brochure translation into InDesign and finalization

After receiving your validation of the brochure translation, we will then update it in our Trados translation tool, and then export the file to InDesign format. Our designer will integrate the images and fonts from the original file, to guarantee an identical and professional page layout. The page we used as an example will now look like this:

Once our translation team has completed a final post-editing review, the document will then be saved as a high-definition PDF, and sent to you for final confirmation. Once you’re happy with the result, the document can now be sent off for printing. If you are not familiar with the printing process. we can also take care of this stage too, and deliver the brochures straight to your door!

So there you have it. You don’t need to go though the hustle to translate brochure to Chinese, Korea, Japanese or any other language really!  Piece of mind in just a few small steps – so why not try it out with us for real?!

HI-COM is International Translation and Localization agency, located in Shanghai. Our Western management style and Asian location allow us to provide excellent service with competitive prices! Shoot us a line and receive a free quote!

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So you’re happy with your translation, and would now like to proceed with the printing process. We will now talk you through the basics of creating a document that’s ready for printing.

So you’re happy with your translation, and would now like to proceed with the printing process. We will now talk you through the basics of creating a document that’s ready for printing.

First of all, it is essential to make sure that the document’s dimensions are exactly the same as in the original source file. To check this in InDesign, go to File, then Document Setup. The document’s dimensions will then be shown as below:

The most important item for the printer here is the bleed and bleed area, so that he knows exactly where the edges of the document will lie. A “bleed” is any object (such as an image, text, colour, etc) that extends past the edge of the area to be printed. No printing press can print exactly to the edge of a piece of paper, especially if hundreds or thousands of sheets are being printed. Therefore if you have inserted a bleed, your piece must be printed on a larger size of paper and then reduced to your finished size. It is important to communicate clearly with your printer provider to ensure this point has been fully understood on both sides. As you can see in the settings above, our bleed is 0.5 cm. You can see the bleed area of the document in the screenshot below:

Creating and printing your final PDF.

To export your file to a print-ready PDF, select File, then Export. When the export menu appears, select the Marks and Bleeds tab, and tick the All Printer’s marks boxes, as shown below. Also make sure that the Use Document Bleed Settings option is ticked. For best results, always make sure you are printing in the highest quality, as in the example below:

Once you have exported to PDF, all crop and bleed marks will be displayed, as below.

These marks explained:

Crop Marks: small lines offset from the edge of the finished piece that tell the printer where to cut or trim the final page to a finished size. These will not appear on the finished piece. As a general rule, do not change the default settings of these marks unless you know a specific reason to do so.

Colour Bars: These sit outside the printed area and are used to correlate the different colours or plates used in offset lithography. Please check with your printer if it is necessary to display these marks, as it may not always be necessary.

So there you have the core elements for preparing your documents for printing. We will also give you some tips soon on how to optimise your colours and graphics, so stay tuned. And remember, if you have any doubts, always check with your printer before firing up the presses.