CAD & engineering drawing translation
Drawings carry text where standard translation tools cannot reach — callouts, annotations, title blocks, BOMs. We extract, translate and re-embed it without breaking the file.
Drawings are documents too
Engineering drawings ship with your machines, sit in your technical files and get read by installers, inspectors and service engineers in every export market. They are full of language: callout labels, annotations, notes columns, title blocks, revision tables, weld and finish instructions, and the part descriptions in the bill of materials — the BOM, the structured parts list attached to the drawing.
The problem is that this text lives inside the drawing geometry. Tools like AutoCAD and SolidWorks embed strings in layers, blocks and dimension objects; you cannot paste a DWG into a translation tool. Agencies without a CAD workflow either retype text by hand — introducing errors in exactly the documents where errors cost most — or return a “translated” PDF that your engineering team cannot maintain. Neither is acceptable for controlled documentation.
How our CAD workflow runs
- Extraction — a desktop publishing (DTP) specialist pulls all translatable strings from the native file, leaving layers, variable tags and dimension data untouched
- Translation — engineering-background linguists translate the strings against your controlled term base, with translation memory applying every previously approved term and phrase automatically
- Independent review — a second specialist checks the translated strings against the source, including the ones only three words long, because “hand tighten only” is a safety instruction
- Re-embedding and refit — the DTP specialist places translated text back into the drawing and resizes every text box; German and French typically run 20-30% longer than English, and a truncated callout is a wrong callout
- Final QA — a full visual pass comparing source and target drawings, plus verification that part numbers, dimensions and tolerances are untouched
You get back native files your engineers can keep working in, not flattened images.
Why terminology control matters double here
A drawing callout has no room for context. If the manual calls a component a “pressure relief valve” and the drawing labels it a “pressure release mechanism,” a service technician holding both cannot be certain they are the same part. We translate drawings, BOMs, spec sheets and manuals against one term base per client, so every component carries exactly one name in every language, everywhere. For companies with recurring product lines, that term base plus translation memory means each new drawing package gets faster, cheaper and more consistent than the last.
Specialist humans, measurable process
CAD translation at Link Translation is handled by our engineering practice group — native-language translators with mechanical, electrical or automation backgrounds — with an independent second review on every file. Since 2005 we have built the DTP capability that makes drawing translation an engineering process rather than an improvisation, across 30+ languages and a network of 500+ specialists. Send a sample drawing package and you will have a fixed quote, with deadline, within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
Which CAD formats can you work with?
AutoCAD (DWG/DXF) and SolidWorks natively, plus drawings exported from other major CAD tools. Where a native file is unavailable, we can work from exchange formats — but native files preserve layers, tags and dimension data best, so send those when you can.
How do you translate text inside a drawing without breaking it?
A DTP specialist extracts the text strings while keeping layers, variable tags and dimension annotations intact. The strings go through our translation system, where specialists translate against your term base. The translated strings are then re-embedded and every text box is refitted, because languages like German run 20-30% longer than English.
Do you translate bills of materials (BOMs)?
Yes. BOM part descriptions are translated against the same term base as the drawings and manuals, so a component carries one name everywhere it appears. That consistency matters downstream — in purchasing, in service parts ordering, and in the manual that references the drawing.
What should not be translated in a drawing?
Part numbers, standard codes, dimension values and tolerance callouts stay exactly as drawn. Part of the specialist skill is knowing what to leave alone — a translated part number or a converted tolerance is an expensive error. We agree the scope with you before work starts.