Notes on technical translation and terminology.
Practical answers for engineers who issue documents in two languages, from our translators and terminologists.
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What you’ll find here
Answers to the questions that otherwise land on an engineer’s desk: what a term base is, when back-translation helps, how certified translation works, and why Quebec construction French has its own vocabulary.
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Looking for reference material?
The guides go deeper on the topics engineers ask us about: Bill 96 and construction documents, official languages on federal projects, NMS divisions and section titles in both languages, and a construction glossary.
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Are your translations consistent?
Send one recent deliverable or drawing and we return a short report of every term translated more than one way, free and confidential. Get a free terminology check. Ready to issue? Request a quote.
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Every article
- J-01The National Master Specification and MasterFormat.November 2, 2026MasterFormat is the filing system; the National Master Specification is what Canada files in it. The difference matters most when a specification has to exist in two languages.
- J-02What is the National Master Specification?November 2, 2026The National Master Specification (NMS) is Canada's master construction specification: a library of standard sections, in English and French, that design teams copy and edit into the specification for each project.
- J-03What is a certified translation company?November 1, 2026A certified translation company is one whose whole process, not one translator, is audited against a published standard. In Canada, that usually means ISO 17100, often with ISO 18587 and CAN/CGSB-131.10.
- J-04Certified translation services: what is certified, and by whom?November 1, 2026A certified translation is one a qualified translator attests is complete and accurate, for use by an authority that requires it. In Canada, who can certify depends on the province and on who will receive the document.
- J-05Captivate translation: how to make your Adobe courses multilingual.November 1, 2026A Captivate course can be translated inside Captivate, slide by slide, or by exporting its text and importing it back. The second way is faster and safer, if you know what the export leaves out.
- J-06How to do terminology research, the way terminologists do it.November 1, 2026Finding a translation for a term takes seconds. Finding the right one, and being able to defend it, takes a method.
- J-07InDesign translation in six steps.November 1, 2026To translate an InDesign file, export it as IDML, translate it in a tool that reads that format, then adjust the layout for the longer French. A Word or PDF round trip loses the layout, which is why a project sheet, a proposal or an O&M manual needs a plan.
- J-08Canadian French vs French: what changes in professional documents.November 1, 2026Spoken, the difference between Quebec French and France's French is obvious. Written, much of it fades, but enough remains to make a document read as foreign, or mean something else.
- J-09Specialized translators are not enough. Terminology management is.November 1, 2026A translator who knows your industry still has to guess which of several correct terms your firm approved. Terminology management removes the guess.
- J-10What is internationalization (i18n)?November 1, 2026Internationalization is the work done once, at the source, so a product or a document can be adapted to any language and market without being rebuilt.
- J-11What is localization, and how is it different from translation?November 1, 2026Translation changes the language. Localization changes everything a user in another market would notice: language, formats, examples, units, images and the rules that apply there.
- J-12Back translation: what it is and how it is done.November 1, 2026A back translation turns a translated document back into its original language, so someone who cannot read the translation can still check what it says.
- J-13What is a glossary, and how does it differ from a term base?November 1, 2026A glossary is a list of terms with their meaning or their equivalent in another language. In translation, it is the simplest way to make every translator use the same words as your engineers.
- J-14What is interpretation?November 1, 2026Interpretation turns spoken words in one language into spoken words in another, as the speaker talks. Translation does the same for written text, with time to check every word.
- J-15What is technical translation?November 1, 2026Technical translation is the translation of documents where one wrong term changes a requirement: specifications, drawings, manuals, reports and safety documents.
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