When a document isn’t editable, translation is only one part of the project.
When people think about translation, they usually imagine a linguist opening a document and translating the text into another language. In many cases that is exactly what happens. However, some projects require several specialists to work together before a single word can even be translated.
A recent project involved a PowerPoint presentation that needed translating into multiple languages. At first sight it looked like a standard translation request, but once we opened the file we realised that none of the content was editable. The presentation contained text embedded inside images, videos, graphics and animations, meaning that our linguists couldn’t work directly on the original document.
The first step was therefore not translation, but Desktop Publishing, often referred to as DTP. DTP specialists recreate documents in an editable format while preserving the original layout and design. If the client also has the original design files, such as Adobe InDesign, the process becomes even more efficient because the designer can work directly on the source material while maintaining the highest possible image quality.
Once the editable version had been recreated, our linguists translated every piece of content. However, the work did not end there. Different languages occupy different amounts of space and sometimes require completely different formatting. German text is often much longer than English, while languages such as Arabic require different fonts and a right-to-left reading direction. For this reason, the translated presentation always goes back to the designer, who carefully adjusts the layout to ensure that every slide remains clear, balanced and visually consistent.
After the design work has been completed, the linguists review the presentation one final time. This last quality check ensures that no text has been accidentally altered during the formatting stage and that the final version remains linguistically accurate.
The result is a presentation that looks exactly like the original while reading naturally in every target language.
For the client, the process is remarkably simple. There is no need to coordinate translators, designers or proofreaders separately. Everything is managed as one project, and the final PowerPoint is delivered fully editable, ready to present, print or update in the future. In many cases, the reconstructed English version also becomes a valuable asset, allowing future updates to be made quickly without having to recreate the presentation again.
Translation is often seen as replacing one language with another. In reality, projects like this show that successful multilingual communication is frequently the result of linguists, designers and project managers working together behind the scenes to deliver a document that is ready to use from the moment it arrives.