USER MANUAL PLANNING & PRODUCTION
Fully leveraging half a century of experience and results to propose the optimal manual production for your company
When it comes to manuals, the content can vary widely depending on what kind of product it is for and how it will be used.
Our stance on manual production is from the user’s perspective. We aim to provide the necessary information in an easily understandable manner from the product user’s standpoint. This starts with learning about users. We consider how the product will be used based on information from the manufacturer on the target users and their objectives in using the product. A manual’s explanatory approach varies depending on users’ product knowledge, whether the product is a familiar one or one with a completely new concept. We propose the optimal manual format, design, structure, and explanatory approach based on a thorough understanding of the product’s features obtained from information provided by designers and development materials. We also leverage our half a century of expertise in multilingual translation while incorporating new technologies to build a comprehensive manual production workflow.
We have even won awards with manufacturers in the annual manual contest organized by the Japan Technical Communicators Association, an affiliated organization.
Services and Fields Offered
- Technical writing and production of manuals
- Multilingual translation and production of manuals
- Multilingual localization and operational checking of user interfaces (UIs), etc.
Digital equipment, audiovisual equipment (TVs, audio equipment, video cameras, digital cameras, DVD recorders, Blu-ray players, projectors, and smartphones), computer peripherals, software, machine tools, robotics, broadcasting equipment, printers, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, automobiles, optical equipment, medical devices, video-game software, and more
Standard Production Workflow
Order received/consultation with client
Acquisition of product reference
materials and specifications
Technical writing
Multilingual translation
Comparative checking
by professional checkers
DTP production
Checking by translation coordinator
Delivery
- Sales and editorial staff consult with the client regarding the intended use of the work, etc.
- The manual is written by technical writers based on product reference materials and specifications.
- Translation is performed by the optimal native translators for the particular field.
- Checkers compare the translations with the source text, checking for mistranslations, missing text, accuracy of terms, etc.
- Multilingual DTP is performed by the dedicated division.
- The translation coordinator checks to ensure that the work meets the necessary requirements such as consistency in style and language, conformity with a term list or glossary if one has been provided, and accuracy of numerical values.
- The finished work is delivered to the client.
*Details and sequence may vary depending on the content of the request.
Technical Writing
We can write manuals in both Japanese and English. We support not only translation from Japanese but also original technical writing in English. Close proximity between the writers of English manuals and the editors of multilingual translations makes it easy to assess when the specifications of the English manual are fixed and adjust the timing to start multilingual translation, as well as to respond smoothly to any changes in the English.
Multilingual Translation
Multilingual translation is one of our greatest strengths. We are capable of simultaneous localization of product manuals, help guides, user interfaces, and other texts in over 30 languages. Translation coordinators consistently manage processes in all languages, and production is also carried out in house, ensuring stable quality. For a single product, we can localize not only the manual for the product itself but also manuals for accessories and software as well as user interfaces. This allows us to accumulate product knowledge and maintain consistency of terms throughout.
Multilingual DTP
We also handle DTP for multilingual translations. You can rely on us for DTP of everything from bidirectional languages such as Arabic and Persian to southeast Asian languages such as Thai, Khmer, and Burmese, and even Indian languages with complex, difficult combinations of characters.
Quality Control System
- Translation coordinators are generally assigned by client, not by project.
- Production of nearly all processes is unified in house.
- Our editing and production staff is capable of simultaneous localization in over 30 languages.
- Checking of over a dozen languages is available in house, accommodating even urgent inquiries.
- Professional native translators are carefully screened and assigned.
- Translation memories and exclusively developed tools are used to realize high quality and low costs.
- We constantly pursue greater work efficiency with our Information System Section and can handle the latest applications.