Telecommunications Translation

The second feature is how fast the technology and its terminology change. Each new generation of network technology brings its own abbreviations and standard terms; more often than not these terms are defined in the documents of international standards bodies, and they should be used with their established equivalents rather than translated freely.

The typical set of documents

Telecoms documents fall into three groups – technical, commercial and consumer – and each carries a different expectation of language and of accuracy.

Which of these documents call for certified translation is set out in our document guide. In tender documentation, the presence of a technical annex alongside the commercial terms in the same document means bringing two different translation disciplines together in a single file.

Where does the terminology risk concentrate?

The first difficulty in telecoms terminology is the dense use of abbreviations and standard terms. Most of these terms are defined in international standards documents, and spelling them out or altering them leads to error; the translator has to know which abbreviation is to be left as it stands and which is to be given with an equivalent. The second difficulty is that the same term is explained at a different level in a technical context and in a consumer one.

The third risk is the charging and condition clauses in consumer contracts. Statements about the tariff, the commitment period and the terms of withdrawal have to be clear and complete; a translator coming from technical material may leave such texts too technical, whereas here readability takes priority.

The regulatory context

Telecommunications is a field bound both by sector regulation and by consumer protection rules. The headings to keep in view in translation are these:

• In Türkiye, electronic communications sits within the regulatory framework of the BTK, and institutional terminology is expected to sit consistently with official usage.
• In international technical documents, the established equivalents of the terms used by the relevant standards bodies must be preserved.
• In consumer contracts, the charges, the commitment and the terms of withdrawal have to be carried across plainly.
• For services that process personal data, the associated privacy texts must sit consistently with the terminology of data legislation.

The BTK is a real institution; the concrete obligation attaching to any given document varies with the service and the market, and should be verified against official sources. Updating all the associated texts at the same time whenever a service or a tariff changes is part of that same alignment.

Scale, constant updating and a bilingual audience

One of the things that makes telecoms content difficult is scale. An operator’s technical documentation, tariff texts and support content grow and are revised continuously; when a new service or tariff is launched, every text bearing on it has to be adapted quickly. That calls for a continuous flow of work rather than a single delivery.

The second difficulty is that the same organisation is addressing two quite different audiences. A technical specification written for the engineering team and a tariff text written for the subscriber explain the same terms at different levels, and the translation has to keep these two worlds from bleeding into one another. A technical text should not be simplified needlessly, nor a consumer text made needlessly technical.

Consistency is achieved through a corporate glossary of terms and abbreviations. Once it has been settled which standard terms are to be left as they stand in which context and which are to be given with an equivalent, releases and tariff updates can be handled quickly and consistently within that framework.

Why specialist translation is needed

Telecoms translation calls for a team able to handle both standard technical terminology and the language of the consumer. Someone unfamiliar with the field will spell out an abbreviation wrongly or leave a tariff condition vague. A team that knows both worlds can hold technical accuracy and consumer clarity together within the same project. A glossary of terms and abbreviations specific to the organisation secures consistency through releases and tariff updates.

For texts under constant revision, as they are in telecoms, the most practical means of control is version comparison: following the difference between the new and the old text means only the changed part is worked on and the rest stays consistent. That brings both speed and consistency from one version to the next.

Texts addressing two different audiences need a check of their own: a check that the technical specification has not been needlessly simplified and that the consumer text has not been needlessly rendered technical. A team at home in both standard terminology and consumer language can keep an organisation’s two voices each in its proper place.

How we work

On the telecoms side, the relationship begins by putting technical and consumer content onto separate streams. Because engineering documents and subscriber texts go through different checks, which content enters which stream is defined at the outset. Once an updating routine based on version comparison is in place, new tariffs and services are reflected quickly in every text that bears on them.

For operators and suppliers producing technical documentation and consumer content continuously, the framework model is the right fit: the glossary of terms and abbreviations, the templates for consumer texts and the delivery flow are set up once. A single tender or agreement, on the other hand, can be run on a project basis. Our scope of service is set out on the translation services page, and for an arrangement at organisation level we suggest the quote form.

This page is for information; the process and the requirements may be revised from time to time. It is worth consulting the institution’s own published material before you decide.