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Thread poster: Irina Kaspirovich
Irina Kaspirovich
Irina Kaspirovich
United States
Local time: 07:19
French to German
+ ...
May 20, 2019

What do I do if I cannot reproduce the font a document is in? I was sent a long Word-file to translate that is in a specific font that is not available in my version of Microsoft Word.
Should I choose a similar font? Should I inform the client about this? Should I ask them first? Should I see if I can download this exact font off the internet?

I am not sure what forum to post this in, apologies if this is the wrong forum.


 
Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 13:19
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Probably do nothing! May 20, 2019

If you are sending it back to the same person it originated from, you probably don't need to do anything!
As long as the font is on their computer, it will come out alright when they display/print the document on their machine — as long as you haven't interefered with the original font settings!

OK, viewing it on your computer, it may not look quite as it should... but this isn't necessarily going to prevent your actually translating it.


th
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If you are sending it back to the same person it originated from, you probably don't need to do anything!
As long as the font is on their computer, it will come out alright when they display/print the document on their machine — as long as you haven't interefered with the original font settings!

OK, viewing it on your computer, it may not look quite as it should... but this isn't necessarily going to prevent your actually translating it.


this happens to me all the time, with one particular customer, whose house font is a specific one i don't have loaded; but they have assured me that my translations drop back in seamlessly on their system.

PS: for future jobs, you might be able to ask that customer to "embed" the required font (NB: full character set, not just the characters used!) so you can be certain everything's OK.



[Edited at 2019-05-20 21:24 GMT]
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Philip Lees
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 13:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Irina May 21, 2019

Irina Kaspirovich wrote:
I was sent a long Word-file to translate that is in a specific font that is not available in my version of Microsoft Word.


If you translate this in a CAT tool, it may be unnecessary to do anything, since most/all CAT tools retain the formatting of the original file (as Tony had said). However, if you don't use a CAT tool (i.e. you may be required to change pieces of text's font manually), then I would use a different font consistently, and tell the client which font I used. This other font should be a font that is not used anywhere else in the file, so that the client can replace it easily and consistently.

Remember, not all instances of the the fall-back font will be displayed as the client's font when the client gets back the file. Only instances where you have taken steps to retain the formatting (e.g. if you used a CAT tool which retains the formatting automatically), will use the client's font on the client's computer. Hence my suggestion to use a unique other font consistently if you do any work in the Word file manually.

You may also be able to download the font and install it from somewhere (though it may be that your use of the font, if you download or copy the font from somewhere, is software piracy, strictly speaking).


 
Buzzy
Buzzy
Local time: 13:19
French to English
You could ask the client to send you the font May 21, 2019

I have a similar situation with a particular recurring client and it did complicate the work, as the documents have a lot of tables in them and it had a tendency to mess up the formatting. I didn't know about the suggested embedding solution, and clearly nor did they. I couldn't find the font online, so I simply asked them to send me copies of the font used and added it to the fonts available on my own computer. (None of this work involved a CAT tool).

 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 06:19
Dutch to English
+ ...
Approximate May 22, 2019

No-one can expect you to have all the fonts in the world. It is enough if you try to approximate the original font, for example if the original font is sans serif, choose a sans serif font that has the same intensity and the same size. Compare the capitals, that is often the best way to tell if two fonts are alike.

Min Fang
 
Adam Warren
Adam Warren  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:19
Member (2005)
French to English
By all means search the web, Irina, May 29, 2019

but I shouldn't waste too much time doung that. It would be wise to discuss the matter with the client. That shows professionalism. The client's consent should be sought in any case for using a substitute font. Any questions to the client should be conveyed as early as possible, to allow the client time to answer.

 


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