Innovative Free Form construction features irregularly shaped supporting structures and shell structures made from wood. Blumer-Lehmann AG’s newest projects, such as the Swatch Group Head Office in Biel, Switzerland and the Cambridge Mosque in England, are inspiring the world with their complexity and precision. So it’s no surprise that this international player from the humble municipality of Gossau in St. Gallen, Switzerland wants its external communications to convey the complex, technical nature of what it does. Supertext was selected as its construction manager, and oversaw the translation of the entire Lehmann Group’s website into English and French.
Five hundred technical terms form a solid foundation
In addition to timber construction, the Lehmann Group also includes the Lehmann wood processing and energy and the Lehmann silo and facilities engineering businesses. Initially, a terminology project was launched to serve as a basis for the industry-specific translation of all three areas. A comprehensive glossary was created with the help of reference texts from previous translation work done for the client: specifically, last year’s news magazine and the guide for the Erlenhof tour, which takes superstar architects from across the globe to the production site in Gossau. The glossary consisted of around 19,000 words, from which a total of 500 technical terms could be extracted to be serve as a basis for translation. These terms were then confirmed by the client and fed back into the glossary. This is how we were able to determine the correct English and French translations of terms such as “stacking”, “smooth-edged planks”, “pallet load” and “temporary silo”.
We don’t make any compromises when it comes using to the correct technical terminology, which is why we recruited and tested top translators specialized in the area of timber construction for this project. Once the right setup was in place, the groundbreaking ceremony for the translation project could take place.
Visionary buildings processed digitally
The translations comprised all of the website’s content, including image captions and accessible texts. They were subsequently checked against the originals for completeness and correctness in the Magnolia CMS.
For Blumer-Lehmann, dealing with digital planning tools is part of daily business, especially when it comes to Free Form projects. The company was therefore delighted that it could also rely on a digital process with its chosen translation provider. Simone Agnosti, Head of Marketing & Communications, is very happy with the result:
“The multilingual launch of our website was a technical challenge. We’re happy that we have been able to roll out our website with as much precision as our construction projects, and we have Supertext’s language expertise and project management experience to thank for that.”
Cover image: Morley von Sternberg (via Blumer-Lehmann)