• Department of Pesticide Regulation

  • Department of Pesticide Regulation

  • Department of Pesticide Regulation

Location: Sacramento, CA

The Objective: Translation of: A Guide to Pesticide Regulation in California

Unique Challenges: The California Department of Pesticide Regulation first published A Guide to Pesticide Regulation in California in 2011. As stated in the publication, the Guide contains information on pesticide laws and regulations, DPR’s organizational structure, an explanation of regulatory and registration processes, a description of local and state enforcement activities, and details on DPR initiatives to protect people and the environment. The Guide itself is 147 pages of sometimes technical descriptions of the important work the DPR is tasked with. The Guide is replete with several industry/category specific terms that had to be researched to ensure accuracy in the context of the translation. Trans-Lang had a tight schedule for completion and to finish on-time, we had a team of 4 translators and 2 proofreaders working on the project concurrently over the course of 2 months. This particular project was also very graphic design-intensive with 3-4 images per page (x 147) that had captions and had to be maneuvered into the right locations on their respective pages; a task that was made more difficult as the word count on English-into-Spanish translations typically increases by 20%.

Solutions to problems encountered: To bring this project to a successful end, Trans-Lang had to put together a team of qualified translators and proofreaders with industry/category specific experience. We also had to add a graphic design staff person to work with our translators to ensure proper layout of the pages with the increased word count. Last but certainly not least, we maintained an open line of communication with our client to incorporate changes to the document and keep them updated on the status of completion.

Final outcome: The end result was a publication-ready document that is now available in print and on the client’s website for download by millions of Spanish-speaking Californians to be able to read about the important work done by the Department of Pesticide Regulation.