A Guide to Multilingual Catalogues for Exporters

The most common mistake looks simple: prepare the domestic catalogue, translate it, print it. The result is usually pages overflowing, tables breaking, and some information meaningless in that market.

A second language isn't copying pages. Here's what actually changes.

1. Text expands

The same sentence runs noticeably longer in German than in Turkish; English is usually shorter. A heading that fits a fixed-height box in one language overflows in another.

The fix: the layout must be built to survive expansion. Flexible areas instead of fixed boxes, a scale with breathing room instead of tight leading. This decision has to be made at the start — making it later means redrawing a system already built.

A practical rule: place text assuming roughly a third of expansion.

2. Units and formats change

• Measurement: metric / imperial
• Decimal separator: comma or point
• Thousands separator
• Date format
• Paper size: A4 or letter

These belong as fields in the product table, not as text typed onto pages. Otherwise the table gets hand-corrected per language and errors creep in.

3. Certification and compliance information differs

A document required in one market may be invalid in another; some claims can't be made in certain markets.

This isn't a design decision, it's a compliance decision — and not something a designer can guess. Which documents appear in which language must be listed up front.

4. Product names and terminology

Do product names get translated? Usually not — brand and model names are proper nouns. But category names and technical terms do.

That distinction needs writing down, otherwise some product names get translated and others don't, and the catalogue looks inconsistent.

Building a term glossary is the single most useful step: the same term appears with the same equivalent on every page.

5. Images carry language too

Images containing text — interface screenshots, labelled technical drawings, packaging photos — don't get translated and stay in the source language.

These need listing up front: which images carry language, and whether they'll be produced separately per language.

6. How many separate files

There are three approaches:

A separate catalogue per language. The cleanest result, the highest cost. Each language can have its own page flow.

Two languages side by side in one catalogue. Page density rises and readability falls. Only works for product catalogues with short text.

Shared visuals plus a separate text insert. Images in one catalogue, text in a supplement. Lowers cost but splits the experience.

For most exporters the first is right, but cost can come down by building the page system once and deriving each language from it.

7. The print side

Different markets use different standard sizes. If that matters, it has to be known while the page system is being built — a grid built for A4 breaks its margins when moved to letter.

The order

1. Which languages, which markets 2. Which documents and claims are valid per market 3. Term glossary 4. List of images carrying language 5. Page system — built to survive expansion 6. The source-language version 7. Translation and typesetting of the other languages 8. Print checks, separately per size

For the general list of what's needed before starting, see the catalogue preparation guide; for choosing a format, the PDF/interactive/print comparison.

I've written how catalogue work runs at Creative House on the catalogue design page.