The youth programme has run throughout the Antalya congress, and cross-language cooperation has appeared in the careers discussions more often than many expected. Based on what we see in assigning and reviewing work, the requirements for space-sector translation come in six parts. Students and recent graduates in science and engineering have particular reason to read on.

One: start with one engineering field you can read in depth

The point of entry should be small: satellite communications, attitude control, power, structures or ground tracking. Following a textbook and a review paper in the field keeps you from producing correct sentences with scattered logic. Engineering backgrounds plus strong language skills are the scarce resource.

Two: zero error on numbers, units and standard identifiers

1,450 metres cannot become around 1,500; frequencies, power and tolerances cannot shift a digit; significant figures and super- and subscripts are preserved; identifiers such as ECSS, ISO and ITU are neither paraphrased nor shortened. Uncertain items are verified or flagged for confirmation.

Three: learn how technical English is written

Shall and may are not interchangeable; definitions, passives and the position of qualifiers all have conventions, and nested Chinese qualifiers must be reorganised in English. Reading ten to twenty genuine standards closely beats vocabulary books.

Four: be comfortable inside standards documents

Learn the architecture: scope, referenced documents, terms and definitions, requirements and verification. Cross-references are followed to the source clauses, and a client’s standards framework is mapped before work begins.

Five: fluent use of CAT tools and the MTPE workflow

Heavy versioning makes translation memories standard; revisions are handled by changes alone, and large volumes go through MTPE with human revision and finalisation. Fluent users produce markedly more per hour.

Six: confidentiality and professional boundaries

Development plans and launch schedules are unpublished: files are not forwarded, do not enter public tools, and are cleared as agreed. The role is language only; technical parameters and conclusions are never altered. Reliability is itself long-term work.

Where to begin? Read open standards and textbooks, join technical webinars, and start with small pieces in one narrow field to build a first termbase. For the background see “IAC 2026 in Antalya: the Quiet Infrastructure of Space Cooperation”, and for company practice see “Satellites Need to Speak the Local Language”.

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