Tips & Tools for Translating Official & Educational Documents
This is an article for all the translators out there who love translating official documents (i.e., birth certificates, marriage contracts, etc.) and educational documents (i.e., diplomas, transcripts, etc.). Fair warning: if you don’t love translating these types of documents, then this article will be kind of ‘meh’ for you.
Three Essential Tools
Microsoft Word
I know some people who refuse to buy Microsoft because they don’t like that it’s too greedy, but I do think you should what’s best for your business. Bottom line: using a lesser-known word processor instead of a popular one like Microsoft could affect your business in general, and for official document translation in particular because agencies usually ask for the translation in a Word document.
There are a lot of cool things you can do with Word that are not all that fancy:
Fonts: I use the font Lucinda Handwriting for the information that’s handwritten instead of using brackets to indicate something is handwritten. It’s also easy to change colors of the text to indicate a different section or author.
Tables: Sometimes it’s easier to create invisible tables instead of creating columns of text. You can easily mimic the source document’s table format with the border painter and shading tool in the Table Design tab.
Shapes: Sometimes I use squares to frame a driver’s license or something like that. I also use the line tool for the fill-in-the-blanks most of the time because they are a bit of a pain to set up, they’re easier to maintain than using an underline.
Drawing Tool: Sometimes people just put a slash to indicate that something isn’t applicable, and while I’ve never had an agency or client specifically want those included, it’s a nice touch, made easy with this tool, and it can be kind of fun. On a few transcripts I’ve translated, someone put a check mark next to every course, so it was nice to have that tool then.
Check boxes: If you customize your ribbon to include the Developer tab, you can create check boxes that you can fill electronically, which has come in handy for medical records.
Picture formatting: You can crop stamps and logos as circles instead of the default square. You can sharpen, brighten, and give contrast to a picture or signature. You can recolor a stamp or logo, without affecting the background (gasp!) You can do sooo many things!
There are tons of other cool things you can do, but I can’t list them all here. Taking a course or training for Microsoft Word skills is recommended because you translate much faster and better when you know all of Word’s quirks and tricks.
Adobe Acrobat DC
This is a free tool, and you can use another PDF viewing program, I just don’t know any others off the top of my head. I have a subscription for Adobe Acrobat because I use the cool premium features to edit and sign PDFs, but if you don’t need to do that, then the free version is fine. I mention Adobe Acrobat because most official and educational source documents come to us as PDFs or images. Images are harder to zoom in on (and to keep them zoomed in), so I always convert images into PDFs. Also, some agencies will ask you to just use comments to block the original text in the PDF rather than you creating a new target document. It doesn’t really look good when I do it because I translate from Arabic, meaning the English result looks backwards, but it could be more useful for LTR languages and rush translations.
Snipping Tool (Windows Only)
When it comes to stamps, signatures, and logos, the Windows Snipping Tool is your best friend. Sorry Mac users, apparently, you don’t have one. Located in your Windows Accessories, it is the perfect thing to transfer important design or informational elements of the source document to your target document, which is something required by many agencies and institutions. Plus, it’s free and simple to use.
Create a Template
After you’ve sent off a document to your client, make sure to go back and strip all the personal information and pictures from it, leaving behind a nice clean outline of the document. I replace the personal information with a description in brackets, so I maintain formatting and remember what information goes where. Having templates ready to go save you so much time when you get repeat documents. The most frustrating aspect of translating official and educational documents is how much time it takes to format them. You could try to use a previous translation, but this is also time-consuming and could violate the terms of your contracts with agencies. Here’s one of my templates.
Save it as a Template
Once you have that template, save it as a Word template (.dotx). I know that sounds obvious, but this is why you should learn all Word’s tricks, because I had no idea you could do this until a few years ago. I used to pull up a template and to make sure I saved it another name, otherwise I’d have to strip personal information all over again. Saving templates as templates lets you pull up a template as a new document and prevents you from inadvertently tampering with your template.
Don’t be Afraid to Ask the Client/Agency for Clarification
This is something that’s true for all kinds of translation, but I think that sometimes we feel like official and educational documents should be easy and feel embarrassed to ask questions. Also, we may feel pressed for time or feel pressure to finish quickly. Asking questions about official and educational documents will save you time later because people will come back with revisions. My pain point, and other translators who work with non-Roman-script languages can agree, is the spelling of English names. There are about ten different ways to spell Muhammad, and it’s just so much easier to ask the client/agency to provide the spelling rather than guessing and having to revise it later.
Know the Requirements of the Receiving Entity
You have to know which entity will be using your translation. The USCIS? A credential evaluator? Do you simply put ‘signature’ in brackets, or do you have to put a picture of the actual signature? Each have their own requirements, but the two main requirements of any entity are to mimic the document as close as possible and to provide a certificate of accuracy. If you translate documents for agencies, they will make sure to tell you any entity requirements, and their own requirements. Many agencies require you to deliver files as Word documents, and some control document formatting. I like to get creative with the formatting, but it’s not for everyone and some agencies don’t like special formatting.
Prioritize Your Research
Certain information is more important than other information for the people the document is intended for (person examining immigration documents or transcripts); they may not examine absolutely everything, like the exact English spelling of a clerk’s name. I know I have dived down some deep rabbit holes looking for information that may not have been worth the effort. There are three main types of information that you need to get 100% correct: vital information (i.e. document holder’s name, birthdate, etc.), content that supports the purpose of the document, and content that affects the validity. I suffer from perfectionism myself, so I know that I sound kind of crazy, but you will drive yourself crazy if you try to chase down obscure information that is not essential nor has any bearing on the document itself.
Don’t Evaluate Credentials
When translating educational documents, you may be tempted to interpret grades and academic achievements. Interpreting a text for the target audience is part of our job, but in this case, our target audience for diplomas and transcripts tends to be credential evaluators and they don’t like it. I’ve attended numerous presentations on foreign educational systems for credential evaluators, and given their knowledge of these educational systems and their languages, they know when we interpret credentials. So, translate grades and academic achievements as they are on the document, but don’t make further interpretations, leave that to the professionals. And I think we disapprove of how each other tries to do the other’s job (ahem using Google Translate and simple addition to convert Hijri dates to Gregorian). So, credential evaluation should be left to professional credential evaluators and translation should be left to professional translators.
Don’t be Afraid to Give Comments on the Content
See a possible clerical error? Point it out! See something strange? Tell the client/agency! Noticing things and then pointing them out to your client or the agency gives you credibility. Assisting the client/agency in noticing mistakes or giving them extra information transforms your relationship to consultant or partner rather than the ‘hired help.’ Also, they’re likely to think you made a mistake in your translation first before considering the clerk. For example, I took the initiative to point out that the clerk made a mistake on the birth certificate because according to them, the child’s father was only four years old at the time of their child’s birth. It’s better for your client to catch these discrepancies and errors before they try to use them in an official setting, and it’s best if it comes from you.
*Going the extra mile*
Get Yourself a Micro Shredder
What is a micro shredder? Why, it’s one of those shredders that reduces your papers into teeny tiny pieces of paper that are no bigger than the eraser on a pencil. I usually print out official and educational documents to compare how the printed translation looks against the original. However, this is sensitive information, so you can’t just toss it in the recycling bin as is. Also, most agency contracts stipulate that you must destroy whatever materials they gave you after you’re finished translating that particular project. A micro shredder is there specifically so that people can’t tape together regular shredded paper like you see in movies and TV shows. Even if you don’t regularly handle sensitive information like this all the time, it can still be a good investment. After translating something particularly frustrating or just plain evil (language- or content-wise), it’s so therapeutic to watch it being torn into hundreds of pieces. (I’m sane, I promise.)
Keep a Library of Emblems/Coat of Arms and Logos
I think this probably happened because I was bored during the coronavirus pandemic, but one day I decided to find the emblems, coat of arms, and logos used in my templates. It’s actually quite easy to find them, especially with Wikipedia Commons. A lot of the time, these can be messed up in the source document because the quality of the scan, and it’s nice to have some on-hand. Sometimes, entities have an English version of their logo, so you don’t have to translate it (if the client/agency requires that). And as I’ve said before, you can recolor them in Word to suit your needs. For example, this Sudanese coat of arms is used for driver’s licenses and other documents, and depending on the document and scan, it could be a different color. Rather than worry about the quality of the scan each time, I’ve changed the color of this logo to match the different documents and save them in my templates. However, it doesn’t work for every document, you have to use your discretion. Again, this was pretty much done out of boredom and you may not have time to do this. That’s totally fine.
