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Writing a specification for translation: what the specification writer decides about the French.

A specification writer decides most of what the French version will cost before the translator opens a file. Standard NMS text comes back in the official French and only your edits are translated; unstated label languages and one system spelled three ways come back as questions.

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What does a specification writer decide about the French?

Most of what it costs. Once your spec writers edit an NMS section, it is part National Master Specification and part your firm’s own text. In French, the NMS part already exists in the official translation; your part does not. Every clause you leave as issued comes back in the official French, unchanged. Every clause you edit keeps the official French around the edit, and only the new words are translated. Every clause you write from scratch is translated from the term base and your approved terms.

So the French version costs what you changed, not what you sent. We match each section against the NMS before counting words, and the quote follows the result. See what the National Master Specification is and how NMS translation works on a real section.

Three kinds of clause, three costs

Left as issuedComes back in the official NMS French.
EditedOfficial French around the edit; only the new words are translated.
Written from scratchTranslated from the term base and your approved terms.

Share translated (schematic)

Which of the five C's does translation price?

  1. CClear
  2. CConcise
  3. CComplete
  4. CCorrect
  5. CConsistent

↑ The one translation prices

The NRC’s NMS user’s guide gives five rules for specification writing: clear, concise, complete, correct and consistent. Translation prices the last one. Its rule is to “maintain consistent spelling, language and format throughout the document”, and every inconsistency in the English becomes a decision in the French: which of two names, which of three spellings, which language for a label.

A clear but inconsistent specification costs more in French than a plain, consistent one, because the translator cannot choose for you. In General Motors’ study of its own translations, wrong terms caused 47% of the errors (SAE J1930, Woyde 2005).

What do common specification habits cost in French?

Each row below is from a specification package we translated. The habits at the top save money; the ones at the bottom come back as questions.

↑ Saves money

  1. Standard NMS text left as issuedComes back in the official NMS French, unchanged.Every NMS package
  2. Official section titles keptThe translation uses the official title, so a bidder finds each section where the NMS puts it.A civil tender
  3. Revised files sent in fullThe memory matched 81.5% of the revised words in context; the work went to what moved.A civil tender, 29 of 58 files revised
  4. One system spelled three waysFrench needs one form, so the translator has to ask which.A mechanical tender, 13 controls sections
  5. A tag that contradicts its legendThe tag stays as issued; the translator raises a query instead of guessing.A mechanical tender
  6. Defined terms used across the drawingsFive demolition states each need one French form, held on every drawing that uses them.A mechanical tender
  7. Label language unstatedSome sections keep labels in English, others call for bilingual signs: the translator has to ask which.A mechanical tender
  8. A global replace gone wrong"American Society of Mechanical Departmental Representatives" has to be caught and queried.A ferry terminal tender
  9. References with no FrenchTheir titles are translated directly, so a French reader still knows what is cited.A ferry terminal tender

↓ Comes back as a question

The pattern behind the table: what the NMS already settled costs least, and anything the writer left open costs a question, a wait for the engineer’s or client’s answer, and sometimes a second pass. The civil, mechanical and transportation pages tell those projects in full.

What will the translator ask you?

The questions a specification cannot answer by itself. On one 121,945-word ferry terminal tender, translated from English to French, 118 questions went to the engineer or client through eight query logs, told in full on the transportation page. They were of three kinds:

118

questions, eight logs, 121,945 words

Query log, ferry terminal tenderEN → FR

Q-01Which word was meant.A global replace that turned “Engineers” into “Departmental Representatives” inside a society’s name; a “scorn nut” that was a cap nut.
Q-02What a process word means.“De-bounced” inputs, a “ramp rate algorithm”, a “swab launcher”: terms only the engineer can settle.
Q-03What stays as issued.On instrumentation diagrams, tag letters are left alone; “AND” is the word, not an acronym.

None of these is a translation problem. Each is a decision the writer can make once, before the package goes out, instead of answering it under a tender deadline.

Which terms should be settled before translation?

§ 08 44 13

curtain wall

mur-rideau

§ 33 05 16

catch basin

bouche d’égout

puisard not · § 22 10 10

The ones the whole set uses: system names, defined states and the names of parts that appear on both the drawings and the specification. A curtain wall is a mur-rideau in Section 08 44 13; a catch basin is a bouche d’égout (33 05 16), not a puisard, which is a sump (22 10 10). When the English names a part one way in Division 08 and another on the drawings, the French has to pick, and it should not be the translator who picks.

We identify the key terms of a set before translation, have them validated by your subject-matter experts, and add them to the term base that checks every section and drawing. Our construction glossary holds approved pairs to start from.

Before you send

Before you send the package: a checklist

The first two come from our NMS post; the rest from the packages above.

  1. 01Delete the SPEC NOTES and settle every bracket, as the NMS post explains.
  2. 02Name the NMS update the sections were edited from, so the matching uses the right edition.
  3. 03Check section numbers and titles against the current NMS, so the official French titles apply.
  4. 04Give each thing one name, in the specification and on the drawings.
  5. 05Spell each acronym out once, the same way in every section.
  6. 06State the label language in each section that calls for signs, tags or nameplates.
  7. 07List the referenced standards that have no French edition, so their titles are handled the same way throughout.
  8. 08Send revisions as full files with the drawing list: on one civil tender, 29 of 58 files came back revised and the memory matched 81.5% of the revised words in context.

How do we translate construction specifications in Canada?

  1. 1Match every section against the NMS
  2. 2Quote within one business day
  3. 3Translate in your validated term base
  4. 4Questions in one log
  5. 5AI draft or our specialists

We match every section against the NMS, quote within one business day on the result, and translate in the term base your experts validated, English to French for most packages and French to English for specifications written in Quebec. Questions go to you in a log, not one by one. You choose, project by project, between an AI draft your own team reviews and translation by our specialists, with a second linguist reviewing the set.

For where the specification sits in the set, see construction documents in Canada and the NMS and MasterFormat; for how we work with design firms, see our architectural translation services.

Common questions

What is a specification writer called in French?
Rédacteur de devis. The official NMS section descriptions use it for the construction specification writer, and in Quebec construction the specification itself is the devis.
What are the five C’s of specification writing?
Clear, concise, complete, correct and consistent, as listed in the NRC’s NMS user’s guide. Consistency is the one translation prices most directly.
Does a French version of an NMS section cost the same as a new text?
No. Clauses left as issued come back in the official NMS French; only edited and new text is translated, and the quote follows what changed.
Should revisions be sent as tracked changes or full files?
Full files, with the drawing list, worked on a civil tender: 29 of 58 files came back revised, and the memory matched 81.5% of the revised words in context.
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