QMS Translation from English to Spanish

[IamDory]

I am developing a QMS for a small machine shop. About a third of our employees are not bi-lingual. Spanish only. Has anyone had any experience with a software package that will translate documents form English to Spanish, and if so, recomendations?

 

[CarolX]

I am developing a QMS for a small machine shop. About a third of our employees are not bi-lingual. Spanish only. Has anyone had any experience with a software package that will translate documents form English to Spanish, and if so, recomendations?

I have tried a few without any luck. We now have an engineering assitant that is bi-lingual and translates everything for us. Is using a temp to do the work an option? Don't forget....when training time comes....do you have someone who is bi-lingual to perform training?

 

[Marc]

Are you referring to work instructions and such?

I had a Spanish - English interpretation software program back in the late 1990's that I used to review documents from Spanish speaking clients such as several in Mexico. I generally got the idea of what was being said, but I wouldn't trust it for something like work instructions. I don't know what the 'state of the art' of software text conversion is right now, but BabbleFish and Google translator do a 'fair' job. Based upon them, however, I'd try to find someone in the company who is bi-lingual and have them do the interpretation.

 

[ScottK]

Personally I wouldn't go with software. I've always been lucky enough to have a bi-lingual person to translatem when needed.

If there are one or two people who are bi-lingual perhaps you can give them some incentive to translate... OT or a bonus or something.
Or just hire a translator to do it for you. Probably cost less than software.
Or perhaps a local college or high school Spanish teacher can direct you to someone who needs an extra credit project?

 

[Cari Spears]

Or perhaps a local college or high school Spanish teacher can direct you to someone who needs an extra credit project?

Hey - that's a great idea!

 

[Randy]

The college may be a bit better choice. You might also look into the local court system for someone who may want to moonlight a bit. A lot of courts nowadays have Spanish translators.

 

[jaimezepeda]

The college may be a bit better choice. You might also look into the local court system for someone who may want to moonlight a bit. A lot of courts nowadays have Spanish translators.

Good idea. Hospitals keep translators on staff as well.

Jaime

 

[Randy]

Whoa!

You're in California and are having a problem with translation issues? Anybody see a problem in this?

 

[Hershal]

I am developing a QMS for a small machine shop. About a third of our employees are not bi-lingual. Spanish only. Has anyone had any experience with a software package that will translate documents form English to Spanish, and if so, recomendations?

We have that issue when laboratories in Mexico apply to us for accreditation. We have successfully used a conversion available by link from the Microsoft site. It was no cost. Just the caveat.....it drops pics, each letter/symbol/number in a formula gets its own line, and the grammer while generally good sometimes is quirky.....but you will have the meaning.

Hope that helps.

Hershal

 

[IamDory]

Thank you all for your comments. Our shop forman is fluent in English and Spanish, but he would not have the time to do the actual translation. Too busy. He would have the time to proof the result and redline changes for me to correct. There is so much to be translated, that the cost of software, even if it is not perfect, would be the most cost effective for us.