Ten languages, length restrictions and a meticulous review process

CASE STUDY:

Kamstrup develops and produces smart metering solutions for energy and water. From intelligent meters and remote reading systems to analytics and services, the company delivers high-quality solutions for utilities, property managers and other companies who depend on reliable consumption data. And Kamstrup is a world leader in its field.

SCENARIO:
COMPREHENSIVE WEBSITE UPDATE

World Translation has provided translations for Kamstrup for many years. In 2019, Kamstrup decided to thoroughly update its entire website structure and content. All of the content was to be translated as new and then proofread. As Kamstrup’s language partner, World Translation was included in the process from the very beginning.

REQUIREMENTS:
PROFESSIONAL SETUP WITH ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT 

Kamstrup’s website contained a lot of content and in 2019 it was required to be translated as new into ten languages, including German, French, Spanish, Czech and Chinese. The English version of the website was already complete and live. One of the project’s biggest challenges was the varying length restrictions (e.g. relating to meta descriptions and page titles), which had to be complied with in all of the languages. 

In addition, Kamstrup made it clear that the company wanted to be very involved in the process, e.g. in relation to allowing in-house reviewers to review the translations before the final completion of the project. 

THE SOLUTION:
MONTHS OF WORK INVOLVING CLOSE, ONGOING DIALOGUE

This major translation project involved several million words and took months to complete. The translations in the different languages were not carried out at the same time, but staggered, each with its own start date, chosen to fit with Kamstrup’s plan for the launch of the website in the language in question.

One of the most important aspects of the whole process was how the translations could best comply with the fixed length restrictions. The amount of spacing and lettering needed to say the same thing varies from language to language. This is why it was essential to have ongoing dialogue about: 

• Can the translations use abbreviations?

• Should the text say the exact same thing in all of the languages?

• What are our options if the English source texts do not always comply with the length restrictions?

• Who decides which sub-elements should be omitted in order to comply with the length restrictions?

• In purely technical terms, how do we ensure that all length restrictions are complied with?

Kamstrup also has talented employees who are competent in some of the languages that the website was to be translated into. Kamstrup made it clear that these employees should read the translated content and approve it before the project was finally completed. Kamstrup also uses this form of review process in other types of translation projects.

The review process is an amazing setup for companies who have the desire and competent in-house resources able to read translated content and if required, make revisions and propose changes to ensure the text matches the company’s terminology and tone of voice.

This meant that the translation of the website involved very close and detailed dialogue between Kamstrup’s reviewers and World Translation’s translators. To ensure the project would run as smoothly as possible from the start, we held meetings between translators and reviewers in order to reconcile expectations for a specific language.