- April 3, 2019
- FOXITBLOG
One of the most commonly used buzzwords in the corporate world is globalization. Defined as the act of extending and integrating into other parts of the world, globalization is key for many businesses nowadays if they wish to stay competitive in their industry.
The push for globalization is measured in a number of different ways, but one metric that really shows how important it is for businesses to reach out to foreign markets is how much the translation industry will grow over the next few years. According to the US Bureau of Statistics, this industry is expected to grow by 42 percent from 2010 to 2020, signaling an ever-more global economy.
It’s not surprising that, while documents that need translating come in varying languages, many of them are in the universally viewable and readable PDF. Let’s take a look at what is necessary when PDF documents require language translation.
Translating the PDF
PDF software makes working with foreign languages much easier. Not only can a PDF file be viewed, annotated, formatted and edited by users regardless of operating system or platform but the ability to easily embed fonts into the document file makes scripted fonts used in Chinese, Arabic, Greek, Russian and others easier to work with.
Working in professional PDF software such as Foxit PDF Editor also gives users the ability to modify and format text as well as move and resize paragraphs to meet layout changes as a result of changing fonts.
Meeting content needs for globalization
There’s more to preparing a document for a global audience than just handing it over to a translation service to have the words put into another language. To begin with, any file that will likely be translated should first be reviewed to make sure that there are no references to culturally specific terms. For example, when creating a policy regarding data privacy, you wouldn’t want to reference social security numbers if you plan to use this document in other countries.
Images pose another challenge for globalization when they include text within them. If you can’t get around leaving the text out of the graphic, you have the option to create a separate image for each language and add it to the correct document. Or you can use the formatting and layout tools in a PDF software solution such as Foxit PDF Editor to keep textual content outside of the image. Or you can translate this content along with the rest of the document so it changes according to the audience it’s prepared for.
PDF software also provides one of the most important features you need when working with translation services: the ability to edit and annotate the document. Translation services do more than just run the original file through a Computer program. Many professional services rely on three linguists—one to perform the translation, one to edit the document and one to provide a final proofreading. Once completed, the file is returned to you. If you have comments and changes, you can make edits throughout the process as well as share notes and thoughts directly on the document itself to make the translation process run more smoothly and efficiently.
Relying on PDF software like Foxit PDF Editor can meet all these challenges because it creates PDF documents that are available in any environment and provides a feature set that is ideal for creating documents that are shared with the global community. From the ability to tag documents to its robust organization you’ll find putting together files with one language, or multiple languages, easier to do as your business expands into the global marketplace.
