The Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) has requirements and best practices for developing and delivering translated communications in languages other than English.
ON THIS PAGE: Considerations | Requirements | Standards and Best Practices | Additional Guidance
Translation Considerations
Before creating any piece of content, consider:
- Who needs to know this information.
- If non-English speaking groups benefit from it.
- Into which languages the content should be translated (even if not all at once).
Translation Requirements
In accordance with Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience, agencies should ensure that websites and digital services are offered in languages that meet the needs of their customers.
To do this, you should:
Write and implement digital content so that users with limited English proficiency can meaningfully access those services consistent with, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency.
Agencies must translate content when required by law and should translate or adapt content based on user needs. If a significant portion of the target audience speaks a language other than English, translation or localization and developing multilingual content for a website or digital service should be a priority. Agencies should develop an internal strategy for developing and managing multilingual content in conjunction with the information architecture of their websites and digital services.
Agencies should use human-based multilingual content creation and test with native language speakers to verify accuracy and to understand cultural context instead of relying solely upon machine translation services (e.g., services where a computer algorithm translates text automatically into another language without human assistance or review). Content that has not yet been checked by a competent human translator should not be posted.
Translated content still complies with Section 508 accessibility requirements and the Plain Writing Act of 2010, as well as any other U.S. Department of Energy and CMEI standards.
Translation Standards and Best Practices
Translated content on CMEI has a few additional requirements and best practices to consider. You should:
- Plan to update for both English and non-English-language content at the same time.
- Link your translated content to the original English version. Include links at the top of each page to allow users to navigate between versions. Example: For a Spanish translation, include "Leer en español" at the top, linking to the Spanish translation, and, in turn, include "Read in English" at the top of the Spanish translation, linking to the English version.
- Link to content in the same language as your translated version if it is available or indicate that following a link will lead to content in English or another language.
- Make sure tagging is appropriate, avoiding tagging CMEI-level content to appear in news feeds.
- Understand voice and tone, culturally adapting content into other languages by avoiding colloquialisms and any other terminology that may be unfamiliar or have a completely different meaning in other cultures.
- Double check any images you plan to use to ensure they have the same meaning in other cultures and to translate their captions and alt text (by overriding these sections in the media block of the website content management system).
Additional Guidance
- LEP.gov - Federal website outlining standards and practices related to limited English proficiency users
- The plain language tie to translating digital content - Digital.gov webinar recording, 2023
- Designing For Translation - Digital.gov guide