why you’d better check the source file formatting
Every translation job involves formatting tasks. If you get a hard copy, you’d better asked your client if s/he wants you to copy the original formatting as well as possible. But it is almost a standard expectation that you need to do it. That is where one of the often under estimated advantages of a translation productivity tool, like a Translation Memory software, comes in: and you have received an electronic file, then simply create a project and just focus on the translation. Your tool takes care of the formatting.
But there are “buts”. Usually all you tool does is to replace each source language sentence or segment with the correct target language segment. Now there are two fairly obvious issues: usually a translation has not the same length than the source text. The other issue arises when the source file was badly formatted (like a ppt presentation which uses all different fonts and bullet point formats instead of being based on template styles). The most nerve wrecking instance is If both issues arise at the same time. For example tables in a word document are not set up to expand with the cell content and cannot accommodate the translated content. Or - even more common - text boxes are ankered badly and/or do not adjust to size.
Interestingly here we are back at the topic of PDF conversions: PDF2DOC tools are very different when it comes to the degree they can manipulate MS Word. The cheap ones actually turn out to be nasty - sometimes even applying character formats (i.e. each single letter is slightly differently formatted). This can drive tool users crazy because they have to deal with the tags that are inserted by their tools for each change in the format.
So obviously a the best way to deal with this formatting issue is to check the formatting first and clean the source file up. Interestingly there are tools around that do formatting checks and there is a lot of advice on this issue from all kinds of sources. What I think is the most important learning in here is to check the source file and to make sure (if possibly) that there won’t be any nasty surprises at the last stage when you actually thought you’d be done.
I am sure this will come up again…