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Scan and Translate Documents
Document Translation and Scanning

Scanning Documents for Translation

If you are considering using translation software it's preferred to have your documents in digital format or already available as a file you can open on your computer.

Many times this is not possible, so you must use a scanner to scan a document and then use OCR Software (Optical Character Recognition) to take a picture of the text and then convert the pictures of the letters to text format. Once it is in text format then translation software can read the text and translate it for you.

When scanning documents you must use a good OCR software that can recognize the different accent marks or characters of the language. If you are translating European languages may use a different software than you would use with Russian or Asian languages.

During the scanning process the OCR software can introduce extra characters causing inaccuracies. Even a smudge on a document can cause the OCR software to add a few letters.

If you scan a document, you must make sure the text is accurate BEFORE you use translation software to translate the document.


Four Steps to prepare your scanned document for translation.

scan document


Step 1) Scan your document, use the cleanest copy you have, smudges or lines can cause the OCR Software to make errors.


ODR Document


Step 2) Instruct the OCR Software to convert it to text.


Proof Document


Step 3) Proofread the scanned document and correct any errors. The accuracy of OCR software can vary and there are usually corrections that need to be made.


Translate Document


Step 4) Once the document is in text you can open it in MS Word and click the SYSTRAN Translate and perform translation. With SYSTRAN Software you can translate any text.





We can set up a quick test to show you how to work with translating scanned documents.


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