Renault goes multilingual

Car maker Renault has used translation technology to convert its product documents into 23 different languages to support its expanding global car dealership network.

Using technology from global information management specialist, SDL, the French car manufacturer has translated technical and service information into local languages for many of its overseas dealers.

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SDL Knowledge-based Translation System has been used for the automated translation with the process being managed by SDL's Translation Management System.

Speaking to silicon.com, Peyman Kargar, VP of engineering, repair and warranty at Renault Service, said the project was part of the company's aims to become more competitive.

He said: "Our mission is to be in the top three by the end 2009 in terms of product quality but also service quality in the dealership. The ambition is in terms of quality of service but also the internationalisation.

"It means you give dealerships tools, process and production of a very good level to help them and to permit them to offer the best performance for the customers."

The translation tech will also help local supply chains run more smoothly as communication is clearer and tasks can be achieved more quickly.

"For all documentation, translation is the one of the major points," Kargar said.

Renault has taken a much more global approach in recent years, expanding outside Europe in terms of sales and volumes, with ambitions to continue this and increase the number of models in its range.

Kargar said: "We wanted to minimise the number of models in terms of translation costs. You need better technology, better processes to be able to minimise the impact of new models."

The project has been running for around seven months with more languages being rolled out all the time.

The languages translated so far are: Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. There is also limited coverage in Danish, Hebrew, Korean, Norwegian and Slovakian.