Monday, March 18, 2013

Technical Documentation Translation Service


The Idea
Use off-the-shelf translation such as Google Translate combined with human editors to translate technical documentation into foreign languages for software and hardware companies.

Origins
I wish I had this service whenever I got a technical question from a non-English speaker using our English-language instructions at ANY of my past companies.

How It Works
Take technical documentation from a Website of a software or hardware company that clearly has business around the world but has documentation only in one language. Do a sample translation of the first page or two (by yourself or with the help of translators from Guru.com or Odesk.com) and send it to the client, quoting a price for the full translation.

Resources Needed
Knowledge of a particular hardware or software domain and editing skills.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage (If Any)
A slight advantage would accrue to the first mover in this space by developing a proprietary set of good translations of particular technical terms. Overall, this model is easily replicated and therefore does not convey much sustainable competitive advantage.

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