PowerPoint presentations are a critical tool for communicating important messages. Businesses of all shapes and sizes continue to rely on the creative capabilities of 
PowerPoint to present ideas, shape opinions and spur action. While PowerPoints are easy to produce by just about anyone with a computer, it’s easy to neglect some basic steps if you’re planning to translate your presentation into another language. Since translating PowerPoint presentations is a common request by our clients, we’ve come up with a few suggestions to make the PowerPoint translation process run more smoothly:
- As much as possible, create all of your slide text (including all titles and additional text in the “sub-levels”) in the “Outline” view. This is better than creating and editing text in the slides themselves.
- Remember: foreign-language translations are typically longer than the English original. So if you’re already pushing the size limits of a slide with English text, it will be much better to break the text up into multiple slides. Otherwise, the translated version is unlikely to fit on one slide.
- Images and diagrams you place into PowerPoint (“pictures” inserted from a file) often also include text. Remember to include the original source files for these, so any text they contain can also be translated.
- If you use external sound files in your presentation, be sure to provide them along with the PowerPoint file. If your sound files include spoken phrases, those can also be translated and recorded into your target language.
- If using the “Notes Page” to print audience handouts, please indicate if those should also be translated. If you are using the “Notes Page” for presenter’s notes instead, indicate whether this text should be left in English, translated or both.
- Learn how to use PowerPoint’s “Package for CD” command. This gathers together all presentation files, including externally linked files, and, if required, embeds the required fonts. Even when not translating into other languages, this will ensure that presentations look and play identically on other computers. Packaging presentations allows them to run even on computers that don’t have PowerPoint installed (or when installed versions you find in the host country are older than yours). The other benefit is that you can save the package to any location or media, not just to a CD. Even if the correct version of PowerPoint is available on the computer provided for you, as a presenter you still might want to package your presentations in this way (or even bring your own copy of PowerPoint). When onsite, it can be difficult to negotiate PowerPoint menus and dialog boxes in a language you don’t understand.
If you need help translating your PowerPoint presentation into other languages, let us know. We’d be happy to assist.
For more than 30 years, ASIST Translation Services, Inc. has worked with business, government, educational and non-profit clients around the world. We improve foreign language communications through a full menu of translation and interpreting services, including content localization, studio voice recording & audio-visual production, transcreation, proofreading, website content, page layout & design, cultural training, and other specialized language support. To learn more about how we can assist you, visit our LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook pages or our Website!