Multilingual desktop publishing (MDTP) is a highly specialized field within the translation and localization industry. Desktop publishing revolutionized the layout and typesetting process for businesses, allowing companies to produce their own content for traditional printing and online purposes. When a company seeks to expand its operations into new markets, especially those using a different language, translating desktop content can pose a variety of challenges.
The Basic Concepts of Desktop Publishing
At the heart of desktop publishing is the design, preparation and layout of materials that traditionally had been done by a typesetter and printing company. Page layout software is used to visually design everything from marketing brochures to magazine layouts. The benefits are that businesses can do their own layout, design and printing at a fraction of the cost and time required for the traditional method.
Originally, desktop publishing (DTP) was done with the intent of producing a printed page or item. Today, this technique can be used for both hard copy and digital or web-based content. Some common DTP tools you might recognize include Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, although dozens of smaller, more specialized platforms exist today.
Taking the DTP Concept Global
Anyone can design content on a desktop publishing platform, but doing it right takes extensive knowledge and experience. Depending on the program used, layout and formatting can be achieved in several different ways. Some users lack sufficient DTP knowledge, taking shortcuts to achieve a specific visual goal. When such pages are later translated for localization purposes, these shortcuts can come back to haunt you. This is especially true for web-based content, which must be rendered in a variety of ways that are specific to the user.
If you plan to expand your business into overseas markets in the future, or even if you only suspect this may be a possibility, it’s important to observe all of the relevant best practices of formatting, layout and typography at the time your content is created.
Seek the Right Tools and Qualifications for Multilingual Services
When your content requires translation and localization for use in other markets, the same principals apply. Look for a localization service provider that is well-versed in every operating system, from Windows to Mac and Linux. Next, ensure that their MDTP team is not just familiar with but highly experienced in the desktop publishing tools with which your content was created. Clarify the type of output you need for your content, whether it’s a graphics file for printing or an online format for use on a website or form.
Finally, if your company or industry is subject to licensing or regulatory oversight, verify that the service provider has location-specific knowledge of those requirements. Otherwise, you may unknowingly violate critical standards.
Specializing in document translation, software and app localization, project management and more, Verbatim Solutions offers the most knowledgeable and experienced team in the industry. Armed with in-depth knowledge of every operating system and content generation platform, Verbatim Solutions is the right choice for all of your multilingual desktop publishing needs.
