As listed in the tip on translation glossaries, three tools that help maintain consistency in a company’s translation include glossaries, style guides, and translation memory. Glossaries help maintain consistency at the term level, translation memories help maintain consistency at the sentence level, and style guides help fill in the gaps by maintaining consistency in style, tone, phrasing, and more. This week’s tip focuses on translation style guides and how to create them.
Within this tip:
- Rule of Thumb for Translation Style Guides
- Elements of a Translation Style Guide
- Download Style Guides for Localization
- Download Style Guides from International Organizations
Getting Started with Translation Style Guides
Instructions and choices that should be included in translation style guides are listed in Annex D of European Standard 15038 for translation services (see page 15). The elements detailed in the PDF include the following:
- Punctuation
- Spelling
- Formatting
- Adaptations
- Language-specific and client preferences
- Common errors to be avoided
- Other miscellaneous elements
Effective translation style guides can vary in length and detail, as exemplified by the following downloadable style guides from the technology industry:
- Google’s Translation Style Guide: a single guide for all languages that is simple and concise
- Oracle and Sun’s Language Style Guides: guides in 8 languages, each of at least moderate length, French, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish
- Microsoft’s Language Style Guides: guides for 90+ languages, each of varying length
Other international organizations and governments with respectable translation teams have also made their translation style guides available online for download:
For more help developing style guides for translation and localization, make quick and easy contact with GGI.
