What does “terminology” involve?

“Terminology” refers to the technical vocabulary of a specific technical field. Terminology plays an important role not only in technical editing but also in translation, as it promotes better communication and understanding, in the target language as well as the source language. It helps translators to use technical terms correctly and brings about consistency, increasing the translation quality.

To enable technology to have the desired effect, it needs to be managed and regularly reviewed and updated. This is the only way to ensure that everyone involved in a company’s editing and translation process is able to gain real benefit from it—from editors to product managers, sales to procurement, and translators to linguists.

Ask us for advice on the topic of terminology! We will work with you to determine your needs and define the processes and procedures for making effective use of terminology in your translation. If you have an existing terminology, we can help you to add to it and incorporate it into the translation process. If you do not yet have a terminology, we will help you to create, log, and define your own terminology. This should ideally be done before the translation is started, as changes made after the translation can be very time-consuming and costly.

Terminology management processes

Terminology management involves creating, managing, and updating consistent terminology for the translation of texts. This includes the following processes:

Identifying key terms: The first step is to identify the most important technical terms, company terms, or industry-specific expressions that occur frequently in the company’s reference texts. This can be done by analyzing existing texts and consulting with subject matter experts or company guidelines. This process can be semi-automated (with AI term extraction and human subject matter expertise) or performed manually.

Creating a glossary: Based on the identified key terms, a glossary is created containing the desired equivalents in the target language and additional information such as context.

Review and validation: The glossary is reviewed and validated by subject matter experts or native speakers to ensure that the proposed translations are correct and consistent. The terminology is approved in collaboration with the customer. Feedback and requested changes are incorporated to ensure the quality and accuracy of the terminology.

Integration into CAT tools: The glossary is integrated into the CAT tool (computer-assisted translation tool) in the form of a terminology database. This gives translators direct access to the specified terminology during the translation process.

Updating and expansion: The terminology should be regularly updated and expanded to cover new terms or changes to terminology. This can be done on the basis of feedback from translators, customers, or subject matter experts to ensure that the terminology is always kept up to date.