Table of Contents
Recent translation projects from French to English totalled around 550k words in 2019 in a wide variety of industrial and technical domains.
Translation Projects Overview
- Total Translations: Approximately 2.5 million words translated from 2015 to 2024, predominantly in technical, business legal, and information systems domains.
- Recent Work: In 2019, translated 550,000 words from French to English. From 2023-2024, spent 172 hours translating an online software manual.
Example Projects
- Technical Translations: Includes foundry installation procedures (54,000 words), military vehicle maintenance (32,078 words), manuals for industrial machinery and more.
- Website Translations: Regular projects for a dinnerware retailer and several tourism websites
- Audiovisual Translations: Edited a documentary, “Esperance de Vie,” shown in local cinemas.
Business Legal Translations
- Experience: Over 70 legal and business translation projects, primarily from French to English.
- Clientele: Worked with several agencies and companies like Constellium, Lylo Media, and BNP Paribas.
Tools and Resources
- Termbases: Utilize termbases in Trados, Phrase, and Access.
- Glossaries: Compiled glossaries from various projects.
- Online Resources: Use online dictionaries and specialized glossaries for accurate translations.
This summary encapsulates the breadth of translation work and specific examples of projects handled, along with tools and resources used to ensure accuracy and quality.
I have translated about two million words since 2015 in a wide variety of industrial and technical domains.
Hours and project count from my management system, Odoo. By far the largest category is of technical translation projects. In 2023-2024, I have spent 172 hours translating large sections of an online software manual for a company who trains software integrators to upgrade Sage corporate accounting software.
Examples of translation projects
These are examples of some of the translation projects that I have undertaken.
| Title | Words |
| Procedures and norms for installations work in a foundry. | 54000 |
| Maintenance procedure and parts lists for military vehicles | 32078 |
| Electrostatic discharge (ESD) specifications | 15559 |
| Transport protocols for delivery of Sulphuric Acid to sites | 15000 |
| Masterclass video transcription of well-known French writer | 10647 |
| Specification for factory packaging conveyor belt system | 10062 |
| Health and safety regulations for the prevention of bird flu | 10000 |
| Transcription of Kevin Staut Masterclass of a show-jumper | 9100 |
| Health and Safety guidelines for large industrial security firm | 9000 |
| Contract for long-term vehicle rental | 8524 |
| Requirements specifications for ERP | 8126 |
Translation projects volumes
I have translated a total of 2.5 million words in the seven years from 2015 to 2024. These are the figures calculated since using Trados, but I was translating smaller volumes from 2012. My largest volumes are in technical, business legal and information systems.
I’ve collected many specific and general terms and recently combined them into one translation database. These are the number of terms against the number of words translated or proofread by domain.
The database that helps me track the number of words translated or proofread. Very large volumes may be spread over several weeks.
I often use termbases in Trados and Phrase to support my translation projects.
Website translation projects
I participate in regular projects for a large dinnerware retailer manufacturer to localize product descriptions and content based on SEO analysis.
I translated a tourism website, Mon Escale en Morbihan. A warm and friendly welcome to the Morbihan, in a traditional and calm setting. Catherine et Régis welcome you to their stylish wood-built guest house, with smart and colourful rooms. I also implemented the partial translation into Dutch, supplied by another translator.
Audiovisual translation projects
We did many video editing projects during the years of transferring old media to digital, some of which were simple corrective edits, but were often compilations or reduction video edits.
I was interested in doing a larger editing project, and so when this opportunity came up, I embarked on a video documentary.
Esperance de Vie is a documentary edit down from 22 hours of recording to 58 minutes and was shown in three local cinemas – in Josselin, at Locminé and in Grand Champ.
The main personality is Jean Guillemet, who conveys his feelings about how society has changed since smallholdings were regrouped, that people started leaving the countryside for the towns, that shops and schools closed and how, although much harder, life was somehow much simpler.
We wrote about the many different types of video editing: simple cutting, based on a theme, reduction editing or compilation. Choose the best type of editing for you.
Business Legal Translation projects
Legal and Business translation is one area where I receive quite a bit of work. Legal was not one of my original specialities, but a skill acquired over time. However, I do have extensive technical and business experience relevant to translation as a business analyst, systems developer and independant.
I have completed more than 70 legal and business translation projects to date. Most of these are from French to English. As with most new domains, I create a vocabulary list in my translation database and investigate any unknown terms.
If you would like to confer your business legal translation project, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Agency customers
These are some of the agencies for whom I work:
| Agency | Orders |
|---|---|
| Powerling | 71 |
| Production SA | 52 |
| Paysdoc | 34 |
| Spotl | 19 |
| Hiventy | 9 |
Client companies
These are some of my indirect customers through agencies.
| End Customer | Words |
|---|---|
| Constellium | 54000 |
| Lylo Media | 21697 |
| Oney | 21000 |
| Brussels Government | 18864 |
| Dematic | 10062 |
| SYSAAF | 10000 |
| ESRF | 9437 |
| Plastifrance | 9000 |
| DEF | 9000 |
| BNP Arval | 8524 |
| Ministère de l’Economie | 8466 |
| BNP Paribas | 8089 |
Translation Sources
There are a few good sites, notably Le Grand Dictionnaire Terminologique from the Quebec Government and Techdico. For more common words, I use online dictionaries such as Word Reference, which has associated discussion, Reverso and Proz.com terminology.
Quite often though, translation is about taking the time to look through the web, find technical data, product and process descriptions, definitions to fully understand the subjects in play.
Glossaries extracted from projects
Example Glossaries extracted from translation projects:
Online resources
Sometimes you can find the translation in example phrases, as on Linguee. On occasions, I use the translation glossary search on proz.com. Sometimes I may already have come across a word! Or I may have referenced it in a termbase.
On occasions, I extract from glossaries to support my translation work, and have used the following specific resources in the past:
Classic-sport-cars.net
Centre National de l’Informatique et Libértés (CNIL)
Dictionnaire Juridique
Ecole National des Sciences Géographiques
FAQ-logistique.com
European Union Terminology (IATE)
Le Portail Transport et Logistique
La Thermodynamique Appliqué
Lexique du Cheval.net
Outil de formation des matériaux
Proz.com