Globally Speaking

The number one concern in preparing a document for translation can be expressed in two words: Eliminate ambiguity. The best way to reduce ambiguity is to simplify your writing by making it more straightforward.

Pay attention to context in order to prevent the confusion that can arise from multiple meanings and variations in usage. Use fewer hard-to-translate words, culture-specific idioms (threw me a curve ball), and complex sentence structures. Spell out abbreviations, and try to avoid slipping into jargon in places where plain English can convey your meaning.

Trust us: This will reduce the amount of time and effort needed by your translator. The resulting translation will be smoother, clearer, and easier on your budget.

And remember that there will always be some cases where a document is not translated. In fact, you may not know when or if your text is going to be translated, because that decision might be made by another department. Even so, the points we are making here apply, because the goal is to write your English original as clearly as possible.