Technical translation services cover a gamut of subjects, from engineering and software to construction, agriculture and a host of other specialist disciplines. Any person having some knowledge of a foreign language such as French, German or Chinese, for example, might be inclined to believe they would be capable of translating documents from English to the foreign language or vice versa, with just a little bit of help from a dictionary, and perhaps a bit more from the machine translation tools available off the Internet.

This short couplet most effectively brings out the problems of relying on machine assisted translation services:

I have a spelling chequer

It came with my pee see

It plainly marques for my revue

Miss takes I cannot sea

I've run this poem threw it

I'm shore your pleased two no

It's letter perfect in every weigh

My chequer told me sew

The main purpose of translation of technical texts is to convey information, while preserving the content uncorrupted. However, often problems arise when dealing with the terminology. What with technology constantly evolving, new terms are born with each passing day. Engineering by itself is a vast field that encompasses a range of sub-fields like electronics, aerospace, automotive, metallurgy, IT and so on. When a translator attempts to render a translation on even a seemingly simple topic like, say, tunnels, it must be borne in mind that there are myriad different types of tunnels. There could be road tunnels, rail tunnels, or water tunnels. Again, they may have been constructed in different ways, depending on the location: on land (bored or cut-and-cover), or under the sea (bored or immersed-tube type). The tunneling techniques again vary with the kind of terrain, and so on, and on… Thus the complexity of any technical document or treatise, a brochure, user manual, software or web content, may well be beyond the grasp of any generalist, and it takes some diligence and spirit of enterprise to do justice to the task.

The purport of even a simple communiqué may go wide off the mark if due care is not taken. For instance, the brochure of a Tokyo car rental firm read as follows: "When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor." The Japanese are beyond doubt a very courteous people and want to do the right thing by every one. However, the insert in the translated brochure unfortunately falls short of communicating their very courteous message in the way it was intended.

A large number of businesses spread across a range of different industries, require quality translation service work owing to the cross border business linkages that dominate the world of business today. These translation projects obviously demand strict attention to detail. Service providers must have an up-to-date glossary of technical terms that is industry specific if they are to deliver a first rate technical translation service. Some service providers use translation memory tools to make sure that oft repeated paragraphs and sections of text that re-appear throughout the documents are given uniform treatment when translating.