Key takeaways
- EU product laws, including the Machinery Regulation, the Low Voltage Directive and the General Product Safety Regulation, require instructions and safety information in a language easily understood by users, as determined by each Member State.
- For the Great Britain market, GOV.UK guidance says product instructions must be clear, legible and in easily understandable English.
- The EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 14 January 2027 and allows digital instructions, with a free paper copy on request at purchase.
- Safety data sheets must be in an official language of each EU Member State of sale, and in English under UK REACH.
- Consistent terminology, translation memory and a second-linguist review are what make technical translation reliable across many languages and product versions.
This guide is for manufacturers, importers and brand owners who sell physical products, chemicals or training outside the UK, and for UK employers whose workforce does not all read English. It brings together the documents a manufacturing business typically needs in other languages, the rules that drive each one, and the working methods that keep translations accurate when products change.
Each section below summarises a detailed article in this series. Read the overview to plan your documentation, then follow the links for the rules and checklists that apply to your products.
What is technical translation?
Technical translation is the translation of documents whose main purpose is to inform or instruct, where accuracy of terms, figures and procedures matters more than style. Typical examples are operating manuals, maintenance procedures, specifications, safety data sheets, software strings, training material and patents.
Three features set it apart from general translation. First, the translator needs subject knowledge, because a mistranslated torque value or warning can cause harm. Second, the same terms recur across thousands of pages and many product versions, so consistency matters as much as correctness. Third, much technical content is regulated, so the language, format and wording can be set by law.
Which technical documents does a manufacturer need to translate?
A manufacturer usually needs to translate everything that reaches the user, the worker or the authority in another country. The table maps common documents to the rules behind them and to the detailed guide in this series.
| Document | Why it needs translating | Detailed guide |
|---|---|---|
| Machinery instructions and warnings | EU Machinery Regulation: language easily understood by users in each Member State | Machinery Regulation manual translation |
| Declarations of conformity and technical files | CE: DoC translated for each Member State; technical file on request. UKCA: English | CE and UKCA documentation languages |
| Appliance manuals, packaging, app text | General Product Safety Regulation, Low Voltage and Radio Equipment Directives | Electronics and appliance manuals |
| Safety data sheets and CLP labels | REACH and CLP: official language of each Member State; English in GB | Safety data sheet translation |
| Workplace safety materials | UK employers must give comprehensible information to every worker | Health and safety for a multilingual workforce |
| Employee handbooks and HR policies | Staff must understand terms, policies and privacy information | Employee handbook translation |
| E-learning and training courses | Learners understand and complete training in their own language | E-learning localisation |
| Patents | EPO, Unitary Patent and PCT translation requirements | Patent translation basics |
| Books, reports and publications | Rights, copyright and editorial quality | Book translation and publishing |
Product compliance documents: what the rules require
Product compliance documents follow a common principle in EU law: the user must receive instructions and safety information in a language they can easily understand, and each Member State decides what that language is. Great Britain applies an English-language rule. The four guides below cover the main product types.
Machinery manuals under the EU Machinery Regulation
The Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 14 January 2027 and replaces the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. It allows digital instructions, provided users can download and print them and they remain available for at least 10 years, but a user can request a free paper copy at the time of purchase. Our guide to user manual translation under the EU Machinery Regulation compares the Directive and the Regulation and explains the GB position under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008.
CE and UKCA documentation
CE marking requires instructions, safety information and the EU declaration of conformity in each Member State's required language, while technical files are produced on request in a language the authority understands. The GOV.UK guidance on using the UKCA marking states that instructions "must be clear, legible, and in easily understandable English." Read CE and UKCA marking: which documents need translating for a document-by-document comparison.
Electronics and home appliance manuals
Consumer products bring extra text: packaging, display messages, app strings and online listings. The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 requires clear instructions and safety information for consumers, and its Article 19 extends safety information to online offers. Our guide to translating electronics and home appliance manuals covers interface text expansion and the differences from industrial manuals.
Safety data sheets and labels
Chemical suppliers must translate both the safety data sheet and the CLP label for each market. In Great Britain, Article 31(5) of UK REACH requires the SDS to be supplied in English, while EU REACH requires an official language of each Member State. Our guide to safety data sheet translation under CLP and REACH lists the 16 SDS sections and explains why hazard and precautionary statements must use the official CLP wording.
Workplace documents: safety, HR and training
Workplace documents are aimed at your own staff rather than customers, but the stakes are just as high. They cover how people stay safe, what their terms of employment are, and how they are trained.
Health and safety materials for a multilingual workforce
UK employers must give every worker information they can understand. HSE's guidance on language issues states that "Employers have a duty to provide comprehensible information to workers", which need not be in writing or in English if it is clearly communicated. Our guide to health and safety materials for a multilingual workforce sets out which materials to translate first and how to check understanding.
Employee handbooks and HR policies
Employers must give a principal written statement on the first day of employment, and staff can only follow policies they understand. Our guide to translating employee handbooks and HR policies prioritises documents, explains governing-language clauses and covers privacy notices under UK GDPR.
E-learning and training courses
Training content combines text, quizzes, audio, video and LMS packaging. Our guide to e-learning localisation for courses, SCORM and voice-over explains how SCORM packages affect the process, when to choose subtitles or voice-over, and how to test localised courses.
Intellectual property and publishing
Some technical and editorial content falls outside product law but has its own strict requirements: patents, where translation affects legal protection, and publications, where rights and editorial quality decide whether a translation can be sold.
Patent translation
European patents need claims translated into the other two EPO languages before grant, and the London Agreement, in force since 1 May 2008, removed or reduced validation translations in many states, including the UK. Our guide to patent translation for filing abroad also covers the Unitary Patent transitional period and PCT national phase entry.
Book translation and publishing
Translating a book that is still in copyright needs the rights holder's permission, because UK law treats a translation as an adaptation. Our guide to book translation and publishing explains translation rights, funding such as PEN Translates and the editorial process.
How do EU and Great Britain language rules differ?
EU rules usually require the language or languages chosen by each Member State of sale, while Great Britain usually requires English. A UK manufacturer selling in both markets therefore maintains an English master for GB and a set of translated versions for the EU, each with its own regulatory references.
| Document | EU market | Great Britain |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions and safety information | Language easily understood by users, as determined by each Member State | Clear, legible, easily understandable English |
| Declaration of conformity | Translated into the language(s) each Member State requires | UK declaration for the GB market |
| Safety data sheet | Official language of each Member State, unless it provides otherwise | English, optionally with other languages |
| Hazard label (CLP) | Official language(s) of each Member State | English |
| Technical file | On request, in a language the authority understands | On request; some regimes, such as machinery, require English |
The declaration of conformity shows how specific the EU wording is. Article 21(2) of the Machinery Regulation says the EU declaration of conformity:
"shall be translated into the language or languages required by the Member State in which the machinery or related product is placed on the market, is made available on the market or put into service." (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Article 21(2))
Northern Ireland follows separate arrangements, so check GOV.UK guidance before supplying products there.
How does a technical translation project work?
A technical translation project works best as a repeatable process tied to your product release cycle. The steps below apply to most documentation sets.
- Map markets to languages. List each country, its required languages and the documents each one needs.
- Freeze and prepare the source. Finalise the source text and supply editable files rather than PDFs. See how to prepare files for translation.
- Build terminology first. Agree translations of key components, controls, warnings and product names before the main work starts. Our guide to glossaries and style guides explains how.
- Translate with translation memory. Reuse approved sentences across models and revisions. See what translation memory is and how it cuts costs.
- Review by a second linguist. Check terminology, numbers, units, warnings and cross-references.
- Lay out and check. Typeset each language and check the final PDF, packaging or screens for truncation and missing text.
- Control versions. Record which language version matches which model and revision, and update all languages together.
What makes technical translation accurate?
Technical translation is accurate when the right specialist translates from a stable source using controlled terminology, and a second linguist checks the result. Each element reduces a different kind of risk.
- Subject knowledge prevents errors of meaning, such as confusing similar components or misreading a procedure.
- Terminology control keeps one term for one concept across manuals, labels, software and training.
- Translation memory keeps repeated sentences identical and reduces the cost of updates.
- Layout checks catch text expansion. The W3C article on text size in translation cites IBM figures of 200–300% average expansion for English strings of up to 10 characters.
- Human review of machine output. Machine translation can speed up some content, but safety-critical text needs expert post-editing. See machine translation post-editing explained.
For a full description of review steps, see how translation quality assurance works.
Common mistakes in technical translation
Across all the document types in this guide, the same mistakes recur:
- Translating before the source is final, then patching each language by hand.
- Assuming English is enough in the EU because the engineering team works in English.
- Translating documents in isolation, so the manual, the label and the screen use different words for the same thing.
- Forgetting the hidden text: on-machine labels, packaging, app strings and online listings.
- Ignoring revision rules, such as the REACH duty to send revised safety data sheets to recent recipients.
- Choosing providers on speed alone. Our article on mistakes to avoid when hiring a language service provider lists what to check.
How TranslationWorks can help with technical translation
TranslationWorks is a UK-based translation agency that translates technical documentation for manufacturers, including manuals, specifications, safety data sheets, declarations of conformity, training courses and HR materials, in 150+ languages with native-speaking linguists. Our sector teams cover industrial and manufacturing, electronics and home appliances, e-learning and publishing and information providers.
TranslationWorks is ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 registered and Cyber Essentials certified, and has served 300+ companies. We also provide transcription, interpreting and custom language services, and work remotely with clients everywhere. Send your documents and target markets through our free quote request, and we will reply within 24 hours.