Remember the Japanese Market

When writing a manual for the European market, most companies do not take into consideration the Japanese market and the fact that around 70% of Japanese people actually read the manuals when they buy a product.

It is important to comply with the EU directives for European targeted manuals; however, it is equally important to comply with Japanese Translation requirements. Non-compliance with national standards, such as related to safety, is a frequent problem. By including the European and Asian markets when writing manuals, it will help to eliminate these types of non-compliance issues. If the manual does not apply to Japan, it should be clearly stated at the beginning of the manual in order to avoid any problems with the Japanese market.

Not using the proper approved terms is another issue. Problems occur when English terms are used in translated manuals or providing a phonetic translation where the meaning is lost but the sound is preserved. For example, in China, Chinese Translations for the Chinese market may only contain approved terms.

Japanese people surveyed by a consumer magazine indicated the following as the most important items they would like to see when using printed product manuals:

• Larger font size
• More illustrations and visual explanations
• Fewer pages
• Friendly explanation for beginners
• Fewer foreign terms used in the text
• Easy-to-use Instructions
• Fewer technical terms
• Better explanations for elderly users as Japan has an aging population
• Clearer separation between basic and advanced functions
• Manual contains a table of contents and an index

Language Requirements to Market Medical Products in Asia

As with Europe, countries within Asia have specific translation requirements for computer software, Instructions for Use (IFU), packaging, and other Medical Device and Pharmaceutical labeling. In this ever-changing regulatory and international market clearance environment, it is vitally important for you to have this information at your fingertips. Without it you are unable to proactively properly plan your international market clearance strategy. In addition to the language requirements there are trends and country-specific requirements for the medical device directives and pharmaceutical regulations.

A comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide has been created in order to understand the necessary Asian language requirements for both Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals.

A copy of this Asian language requirements document can be downloaded here free of charge.

Learn about what languages are required for marketing medical devices, IVDs and pharmaceuticals in Asia plus additional international language requirements including. Included in this helpful guide are:

Medical Device and IVD Language Requirements

Pharmaceutical Language Requirements

Additional requirements and exceptions for medical devices

Additional requirements and exceptions for pharmaceuticals

The Importance of Mechanical Quality Assurance in the Translation Process

The final quality of a translated document depends on many important factors. Two of these happen before the translation process starts:

Before any translation is performed, you first need to start with an error free source document. Errors and discrepancies in the source material will propagate throughout the target languages into which you need to translate.

Also, you have to select the best linguistic team for your document translation. Matching linguists who have specific experience with the types of products you produce or the specific area of the medical industry into which you sell will help to ensure the highest quality for your translation projects.

One factor that affects the final quality of a translated document that often gets overlooked is Mechanical Quality Assurance (Mechanical QA). The Mechanical QA step is the final step of the process which entails checking the translated text after all formatting and linguistic proofreading is finished. The intent of this stage of the process is to verify that the translated document follows the client’s specifications and matches the elements of the source document.

The Mechanical QA does not have to be done by the target language linguists; however, you certainly need to select a qualified QA vendor who is very detail oriented.

Some of the key items of the Mechanical QA process are as follows:

Does the translated document have the same number of paragraphs as the source document?

Are all the product names spelled correctly and do they match the source document?

Are all the numbers within the translated document correct?

Do the numbers within the translated document match the source document?

Do all of the trademark, copyright and registered marks within the translated document match the source document?

In a multilingual file, are items, such as measurements, consistent across all of the languages?

One thing to remember when performing the Mechanical QA step is to be sure to allow extra time for the linguists to answers questions plus the implementation of the changes, if necessary.