Overview of the Korean Translation Project
The Korean translation of the cosmetics guidebook planning report converted the English guidebook prepared by Nusrat and Sakib into a Korean edition for Korean readers, including exporters and headquarters staff. The final Korean version was completed on August 30, 2025.
The English original runs to 42 pages in version 3, while the Korean edition expanded to 48 pages, or about 15% longer. This reflects the higher text volume required in Korean and the addition of supplementary explanations for Korean readers, including Korea benchmark figures and reference notes. The central tasks throughout the project were terminology consistency, data accuracy, and adaptation to the Korean business context.
Core Translation Challenges
Korean-English translation in the cosmetics field is more demanding than general business translation because it combines terminology from beauty, chemistry, regulation, and distribution. Standardizing Korean renderings for Bangladesh-specific institutions, legal titles, and brand names was especially important.
| English | Korean Rendering | Field | Frequency | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSTI | Bangladesh Standards Institution | Regulation | 50+ | Abbreviation retained |
| DGDA | Directorate General of Drug Administration | Regulation | 20+ | Cosmetics registration |
| Halal Certification | Halal certification | Certification | 15+ | Issued by ISWA |
| HS Code 3304 | Tariff item code 3304 | Trade | 10+ | Cosmetics category |
| Daraz | Daraz | Distribution | 30+ | Largest BD e-commerce platform |
| Unilever BD | Unilever Bangladesh | Company | 20+ | Market leader |
| K-Beauty | K-Beauty | Category | 40+ | Korean cosmetics |
| Fair & Lovely | Fair & Lovely | Brand | 15+ | Top whitening brand |
Translation Quality Control
Quality control followed a three-stage process. The first draft combined machine translation using DeepL with human revision, and it revealed 23 cases of inconsistent terminology. In the second review, cosmetics and trade specialists compared the Korean text against the English original and corrected 15 terminology issues and 8 context-level errors. The third and final review checked every number, table, and chart against the English source, leaving only three minor typos and resulting in a high-quality Korean translation.
Lessons and Recommendations from the Translation Process
The Korean translation of the cosmetics guidebook transformed a 42-page English document into a 48-page Korean edition, with terminology consistency, data accuracy, and adaptation to Korean reader context serving as the main quality criteria. By building a glossary in advance and applying a three-stage review sequence of translation, proofreading, and data verification, the project achieved a high standard of quality while also improving efficiency through DeepL-assisted drafting. The principle of maintaining Korean and English versions in parallel established a repeatable translation process for future revisions.