The brief forms the basis of your collaboration with the translator. The more thorough it is, the better the translator can understand and realise your expectations and requirements for the text.
By answering the following questions, you are already giving your translator a good orientation:
- Who is your target group?
- What do you want to achieve with your text? What is the purpose of the text?
- How shall this be achieved? What effect do you want the text to have on your target group?
- When and where will the translation be used?
- How will the text be transmitted?
But that is by no means all:
- Provide the translator with as much contextual information as possible. Are there links to the text, photos or screenshots? Have you previously commissioned a translation that you were satisfied with? If so, provide the translator with these reference documents!
- Do you already have your own style guide, translation memory or termbase? Or do you have a preferred translation for certain terms?
- Do you want to use the formal or informal way of addressing the reader?
- Should measurements be converted?
Also, if there are any additional details to be taken into account, let the translator know. All information is relevant and will shape the creation of your target text!