José Henrique Lamensdorf - translation - tradução

Desktop Publishing services
for Translations

This page is aimed at professional translators who want to offer their clients a complete job without having to step out from their comfort zone.

Basically, a translator works with text alone. Sometimes this is all their client wants - the translated text - and sometimes not. It is common for a company to have a publication - a catalog, instruction manual, promotional leaflet - that they want to publish in another language, so they hire a translator. That's the first step. However if the translator sticks to his/her assignment - to translate - they'll deliver text only. Their client will be left with the task of finding someone else to assemble the translated publication, a desktop publishing (aka DTP) professional.

Some translators do DTP, I am one of them. Others, in their relentless pursuit to provide good service to their clients, sometimes try to do it, on the verge of desperation: learning DTP is almost like learning a new language, and doing DTP with a word processor may be a hopeless struggle. Finally, there are translators who would like to outsource this part of the job, by setting up a business partnership. If you are in this latter group, keep on reading, as this message was intended for you.

When the client outsources DTP, some surprises may come up. First, we may assume that the DTP operator won't be bilingual. S/he will need text cross-references, a rather tedious task that some bilingual individual - translator or client - will have to do. And there will still be a risk that the translator will be asked to do additional post-DTP proofreading, something that may be unpleasant to charge for after the client has overspent the budget for obtaining the translated publication.

So this is my offer: to undertake the DTP work for translators, so that they may offer finished publications to their clients.

I only translate between English and Portuguese, however I do DTP for translations in any pair among these languages:

ENGLISH • PORTUGUESE • FRENCH • ITALIAN • SPANISH

If you want to know more about this service, click here to see the answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Later, if you have a publication to translate, and need a cost estimate, please contact me by clicking on the e-mail button on the left. I can make an estimate rather quickly, but I'll have to ask you a few questions, or give you instructions to send me the materiall.