Paperly / PDF translation to English / Spanish contract PDF to English

Translate a Spanish contract PDF to English and keep the layout.

In a contract, position carries meaning: clause numbers, cross-references, schedules and signature blocks have to stay where they are. Paperly rebuilds each page and fits English text back into the original regions, and anything that does not fit stays in Spanish and is flagged. This guide covers what to expect and what you must still check yourself.

Why layout matters in a contract

A reflowed translation turns a contract into a wall of text. Clause numbers drift away from their paragraphs, a schedule table loses its columns, and the signature page no longer looks like a signature page. The layout translator works on the page as drawn. It reads the text regions of your Spanish PDF, translates the extracted text, and fits each English passage back into the region where the Spanish sat, so the clause structure you see in the original is the structure you see in the English PDF.

What you can expect on each part of the document

• Headings and numbered clauses. Each heading and clause is a text region. The English is fitted into that region, so clause one is still clause one and the order of the document does not change.
• Long paragraphs. Contract clauses are often dense. If a translated paragraph cannot fit its original region at a readable size, the region keeps the Spanish text and is listed in the review notes. It is not clipped and it does not run over its neighbour.
• Schedules and annexes with tables. Table text is fitted into the original cell regions. For how cells behave when English does not fit, see the guide to Spanish tables.
• Signature blocks, stamps and seals. Images and text inside images stay unchanged. A stamp, a seal or a handwritten signature appears exactly as in the original, and any Spanish wording inside a stamped image stays Spanish.
• Headers, footers and page numbers. These are text regions too, so they are translated and fitted like the rest. Check them against the original.

Step by step

1. Check the PDF has selectable text. A contract that was printed, signed and scanned has no text layer, and scanned pages are kept unchanged. See what to do when a Spanish PDF does not translate.
2. Confirm you may upload it. Contracts are often confidential. Read the privacy section below before you click anything.
3. Upload the PDF. Up to 50 MB. Nothing is sent until you click Upload and read PDF.
4. Set the source to Spanish if automatic detection picks the wrong language.
5. Click Translate to English and review side by side, with the Spanish page on the left and the English page on the right.
6. Work through the review notes first, then every page. Edit wrong terms in the editor, click Update PDF after editing, then download the English PDF.

What to check in a translated contract

Machine translation does not know what a clause is for. Compare the English against the Spanish original for these items before anyone relies on it.

• Party names and company forms. Names of people and companies, and company-form abbreviations such as S.L. or S.A., can be altered. Restore them to match the original.
• Amounts, percentages and dates. Spanish documents often use a comma as the decimal separator and a period for thousands. Check every figure against the original, including any amount written out in words. Day-month order can also be misread by an English reader.
• Defined terms. A term defined in one clause and used in another must be translated the same way every time. Search the English for each defined term.
• Cross-references. Confirm that each reference to a clause, annex or schedule still points to the right number.
• Legal terms of art. Words with a specific legal meaning may have a standard English equivalent in your field that the machine did not choose. Have a qualified person confirm those.
• Anything kept in Spanish. Every region listed in the review notes is a place the tool could not complete. Decide for each whether to shorten the English in the editor or handle it outside the PDF.

A machine draft is not a legal translation

The output is a machine-translated draft for reading and review. Do not rely on it for the contractual meaning of a document. If a court, authority, bank or counterparty needs a certified or sworn translation, ask them what they accept, because a machine draft from this tool is not that.

Honest limits

• Scanned pages need OCR reconstruction before translation. That is a beta limitation: a scan has no text layer, so there is nothing to translate until it is recognised.
• Images and text inside images are not translated. Logos, stamps, charts and screenshots stay as they are.
• Mixed inline styling may need review. Bold spans, superscripts and footnote markers can shift after translation.
• Machine translation needs a human read for names, numbers and legal wording. The output is a draft you check against the original.

Privacy for this tool

This is a cloud tool. Your PDF is uploaded to Paperly for layout processing and kept for one hour of inactivity, and extracted text is sent to Alibaba Cloud Machine Translation when you click Translate to English. Use it only for files you are allowed to share. See the privacy page for details, and the comparison with the local converter if you are unsure whether the file may leave your device. The tool is a free beta.

Questions

Related

• PDF layout translator - keep layout, keep formatting, side by side
• Translate a PDF to English and keep layout - the main guide
• Translate a Spanish PDF to English without breaking tables
• Keep invoice or manual layout when translating a PDF to English
• Translate a Spanish certificate or official form PDF to English
• Spanish PDF not translating? Scans, wrong language and what to try
• Chinese → English sample - desensitized before/after
• Free beta - not for sale
• Privacy - uploads and retention