In most internationalization processes by companies that market products within the technology field, a series of questions often arise that are related to the wording of the information provided to consumers about these products. Each product that is launched on the market must be accompanied by a technical description specifying what the product is, its components and, essentially, any information considered appropriate about its manufacture, constitution, maintenance and disposal. Likewise, almost all products, especially those related to specific methods of use, must be accompanied by a manual or set of instructions of use so that consumers can familiarize themselves with the correct method of use, in order to avoid errors in the expected results for the product or even avoid harm resulting from incorrect use. For this reason, manufacturers are paying increasingly more attention to the wording of these documents, which must present the information in a way that can be understood by a target audience that is not necessarily an expert in the technical subject matter. In this regard, there are a multitude of standards in each country, as well as collaborating entities that ensure the creation of quality explanatory materials with a series of common characteristics guaranteeing that they are recognized as a specialized text.
That being said, are all manufacturers as well informed? Admittedly, machinery and technical product manufacturers must now successfully overcome a series of adequacy assessments in order to be able to market their inventions. Therefore, it is true that we often find included explanatory documents related to the constitution and use of products. However, not everyone knows that the translation of these documents is also stipulated in most regulations, and it must be taken into account that translated versions are required to be provided in order for its market inclusion to be considered suitable.
In Spain, the Royal Decree 1644/2008 of 10 October establishes the marketing and commissioning standards for machines. In section 1.7, it sets forth a series of provisions regarding the product-related information, which includes: the need to disclose information in a way that can be understood without ambiguities, the need to equip products with warning devices to alert the consumer in the event of danger or malfunction, warning about possible residual risks, the marking that must appear on every machine (trade name and full address of the manufacturer, designation of the machine, the CE marking, model designation, serial number, year of manufacture, etc.) and, point 1.7.4 specifically refers to instruction manuals, stating the following:
When marketed and/or commissioned in Spain, each machine must be accompanied by an instruction manual, at least in Spanish. This manual will be an “Original manual” or a “Translation of the original manual”; in the latter case, the translation will be accompanied by an “Original manual”. However, the instructions for maintenance to be provided to specialized personnel authorized by the manufacturer or their authorized representative may be supplied in one of the languages of the European Community that is understood by such specialized personnel.
This paragraph recognizes the need to localize instructions and technical specifications into the language of the target audience and the specialized public. In the case of Spain, a version must be provided in Spanish. Manufacturers can also request translations into the other languages spoken within the territory (in this case, Basque, Catalan, Galician, etc.), but it is currently not an essential requirement. Regional authorities, however, can issue provisions in this regard that would only apply in their respective territories.
The text of the Royal Decree continues by stating the interlinguistic requirements for instruction manuals:
The instruction manual will be written according to the principles listed below.
1.7.4.1 General guidelines for the instruction manual:
a) The instruction manual shall be drawn up in one or more of the official languages of the European Community. The words “Original manual” shall be shown in the language version or versions checked by the manufacturer or by their authorized representative.
b) Where there is no “Original Manual” in Spanish, the manufacturer or their authorized representative, or the person responsible for the introduction of the machine in the language area concerned, shall provide a translation at least in Spanish. Translations shall include the words “Translation of the original manual”.
c) The contents of the instruction manual should not only cover the intended use of the machine, but also take into account its reasonably foreseeable misuse.
d) In the case of machines intended for non-professional users, the level of general training and the acumen which can reasonably be expected from such users shall be taken into account in the drafting and presentation of the instruction manual.
This text also highlights the need to indicate when it is the original version and when it is a translated version. This is an important aspect because, for legal purposes, the original version is the only one that is applicable. In this way, the possible damage derived from an error in the translations of said original texts is eliminated.
Thus, we can deduce that the requirement does not reside in translating the information of an instruction manual into several different languages, but rather in studying the internationalization objective and the current regulations in each market in order to know the translation requirements and languages in which language services are needed. Likewise, this task must be entrusted to sector professionals in order to reduce to a minimum the risk of translation errors that may hinder the correct launch of products in the technical industry.
Ref. de la imagen: https://www.thoughtco.com/instructions-composition-term-1691071
