A major component of the professional translation process is to ensure the accurate and consistent translation of technical terms (industry jargons, corporate lexicon) across the enterprise information ecosystem such as software UI, help, product datasheets, user manuals, website, marketing brochures and sales literature. If your translation needs are moderate, terminology management may be done on personal level within a small team. However, for companies that require translation services on a regular basis, systematic terminology management is not only needed, but also a must to ensure high quality output and lowered translations costs.
Inaccurate terminology translation can lead to significant rework and this is why businesses must properly manage terminology early in their localization management process to ensure the best business outcomes.
Termbase and Glossary
A termbase (or termbank) is a database that stores terms, definitions, usage status and other terminological attributes such as revision history, glossary ID, and contributor information. Terms and their corresponding translations in a range of different languages are stored together so once a term is given, it’s corresponding translations can be easily identified.
A glossary is similar to a termbase but it’s usually saved as a static file and can be easily exchanged between the client and translation vendor. A typical translation glossary is a list of terms and their translations in different languages arranged in columns in an Microsoft Excel file.