Context

3Dnatives is the leading international media outlet dedicated to additive manufacturing and its applications. Since 2013, it has published news and in-depth market analysis in five languages, read by more than 1.3 million unique visitors every month.

For a news outlet, speed is everything: a story published in German, English or Spanish needs its French version online within days, sometimes within hours. And the readership is demanding: engineers, manufacturers and industry experts who immediately spot an inaccurate term.

3Dnatives brought me on board from April to October 2026 to translate and post-edit its French content, covering applications as varied as medicine, aerospace, fashion and consumer tech.

Objectives

• Deliver accurate French versions of technical articles on very short deadlines
• Translate from three source languages while keeping a single, consistent French voice
• Make the right terminology choices for each audience, from industry experts to the general public
• Build a reusable terminology base for the editorial team

Methodology

Translation and post-editing from three languages

• Translation from German, English and Spanish depending on where the story broke
• Post-editing of machine translations, with a full review of technical accuracy, style and readability
• Turnaround times of one to two days, sometimes less, to keep pace with the news cycle

Terminology management

• Creation and continuous update of a glossary after every translation, reaching 258 terms by the end of the mission
• Case-by-case decisions on terminology depending on the audience
• Consistent vocabulary across all articles, whatever the source language

Adaptation for a French readership

• Technical concepts made accessible without oversimplifying: titanium grades, photopolymers, micro-layers, surface finishes
• Natural French phrasing rather than literal translation, so each article reads as if it had been written in French
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Results

Over six months, I was able to :

Translate 48,000 words into French, an average of 8,000 words per month

Complete 96 translation assignments, 94 of them on time (98%), with the two delays never exceeding 24 hours

Deliver a 258-term glossary that the editorial team can reuse for future translations

Cover a wide range of applications, from medical devices and space exploration to fashion and the latest consumer tech, such as Apple’s 3D-printed iPhone Duo hinge

Let’s talk about your French translation needs!