Terminology Glossaries: What, Why, When and How?
Posted on Tue, Sep 29, 2009
Today's guest blogger is Lee Densmer, Lionbridge Solution Architect, who works in our Boise office. Lee is sharing her thoughts and expertise on Terminology Glossaries...
Language is continually evolving. For example, the word "hardware" has been around for many years but the meaning of the word has changed over time. "Hardware" used to refer to things like tools, nails, and pipe fittings, but it now also refers to computers and peripherals. By the same token, one word can have multiple meanings (e.g. "drive") and multiple words can have the same meaning (e.g. "screen, monitor, display").
It's critical to clearly define these terms when translating content into other languages. That's why one of the first questions your language service provider (LSP) will ask you is, "Do you have a glossary?"
What is a Terminology Glossary?
A glossary is a file that contains terms, their definitions, their translations, and enables the consistent use of those terms throughout all company materials. A multilingual glossary is critical to the successful translation of your materials. Glossaries ensure that all terms are understood and translated exactly as you mean for them to be. Glossaries ensure linguistic quality and consistency, not just for one project, but for all your projects. Once you have a glossary, you can add terms over time, delete them as they become obsolete, or amend their definition and/or translation as language evolves. How are they created?
Any terminology lists you already have are helpful. From there, your LSP will mine your source materials (some of this can be done automatically) to grab term candidates. They'll choose terms that are client or industry-specific, and that wouldn't be in any common or industry standard dictionary. At some point, they would present that list to you to validate, and then translate that list into all your target languages. Your in-country folks should also get the chance to review the translations. In the end, you get a multilingual dictionary with terms specific to your industry/product.
From there, all translators working on your materials will have this glossary to use as a reference. Glossary use can be automated (obligated) during the translation process, via a number of different localization tools which incorporate glossaries into the process. The result of a good glossary (plus good translation memories and qualified translators) will be a high-quality localized content that will smoothly pass your review cycle.
Principles of a Good Glossary
Glossaries are designed to get rid of uncertainty for translators. So:
- A good glossary has each term included only once, and all the terms that require specific definitions are there. It's exclusive and exhaustive.
- Glossaries contain only terms which are specific to your product. Glossaries do not contain terms that can be found in other industry standard glossaries or dictionaries.
- Glossaries should be as brief as possible (while being comprehensive).
- Glossaries should provide the term, the translation, the grammar (noun, verb, gender, etc.), the definition and an example of context. Other metadata like part of speech and approval status can be useful as well. Naming the source document could also be helpful.
- Glossaries may include a list of not to be translated terms (NTBT), typically product names
- Glossaries should include acronyms and abbreviations, and their spelled-out meaning, e.g. P&L (Profit and Loss), FY (Fiscal Year), etc.
How Are Glossaries Used?
Some companies keep their glossaries in Excel spreadsheets, which can be difficult for translators to use (but is still better than nothing). More automation is better. For instance, Lionbridge uses a hosted glossary database tool to manage glossaries. When translators use the Logoport Word client, the term database is queried automatically when a translator opens a segment to translate, provided that a glossary has been associated with the project TM (translation memory). The translators are shown a listing of relevant terms for the active translation segment, and then makes a choice from there.
Alternatively, any searchable format that is accessible can work. We recommend an Excel worksheet with only one tab (spreadsheet) per file. Do not separate terms on multiple spreadsheets; instead, add fields and attributes to differentiate among types of terms. Do not use hard or soft returns within cells, as this causes problems during import/export from Excel.
A glossary is a very easy way to improve consistency and clarity of your documentation - in all languages.