Situation
A UK-based refugee support charity needed several community-facing materials translated into multiple languages for use across its service network. The documents were designed to help refugees and asylum seekers access essential support — making accuracy, accessibility, and clear presentation critical requirements. The charity’s coordinator, Priya, had existing Canva files and needed the final translated versions delivered in the same format, ready for immediate distribution without any internal reformatting. For more on LingvoHouse’s community and public sector translation services, see the public sector translation overview.
Challenge
The project spanned seven languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Kurdish, Tigrinya, Amharic, and Pashto — several of which use non-Latin scripts and right-to-left text direction, creating significant formatting complexity within Canva. The charity did not have the internal capacity to reformat documents after translation, nor to carry out language-by-language checks to ensure text displayed correctly in the final files. Every language version needed to be publication-ready on delivery. Any formatting error in a document of this kind — aimed at vulnerable people navigating unfamiliar services — carried real consequences for accessibility and trust.
Approach
LingvoHouse received the source Canva files and assessed the formatting requirements across all seven target languages before translation began. Given the range of scripts involved — including right-to-left languages such as Arabic, Farsi, and Kurdish, as well as less commonly resourced languages including Tigrinya, Amharic, and Pashto — specialist translators were assigned for each language pair. Rather than translating the text separately and returning it for the client to reinsert, LingvoHouse worked directly within Canva, placing translated content into each file and adjusting layout, text size, and alignment to preserve the original design across all language versions. Each version was checked before delivery to confirm that the formatting was intact and the text displayed correctly. The full set of files was returned to Priya in Canva format, ready for use.
Outcome
All seven language versions of the refugee support materials were delivered in Canva format, with the original layout preserved across each file. The charity was able to distribute the materials without any further reformatting or internal checking. Priya confirmed that the files were ready for use immediately on receipt. The project saved the charity significant internal time that would otherwise have been spent on post-translation design work.
What This Demonstrates
- Multilingual translation across seven languages, including right-to-left scripts (Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish) and less commonly resourced languages (Tigrinya, Amharic, Pashto)
- Direct working within Canva files, with layout and formatting preserved across all language versions
- Specialist translator assignment for each language pair, including non-Latin script languages
- Publication-ready delivery requiring no internal reformatting by the client
- Sensitivity to the accessibility and presentation requirements of community-facing materials for vulnerable audiences
Work With LingvoHouse on Multilingual Community Materials
If your organisation produces community-facing materials that need to reach people across multiple language backgrounds — and you need the final files ready to use without internal reformatting — LingvoHouse can support the full process from translation through to formatted delivery. Request a quote at lingvohouse.com or contact the team to discuss your language requirements and file formats.
For more on LingvoHouse’s community and public sector translation services, see the public sector translation overview.
