The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2023 - 32

RESOURCE REVIEW By Marina Ilari
Terminology Management:
What You Should Know
Terminology management is the process of identifying, storing, and
managing customer, company, or product-specific terminology that
needs to be translated in a definitive way. Simply put, it's the process of
building a glossary with preferred translations (or ones the client doesn't
want used due to personal preferences) that you'll then upload to a
termbase. The termbase is comprised of not only terms, but also essential
information about them, such as images, notes, definitions, and examples.
The following will examine some of the usages, features, and benefits of
terminology management for translators and project managers.
Benefits of Terminology
Management
T
here are some clear
benefits of having
a solid terminology
management process in place
for your translation and
localization projects.
1. It allows you to achieve
effective and accurate
translations by organizing
the usage of terms with
a clear set of rules to
ensure that the correct
term is used within a
specified context.
2. It ensures consistency
with the client's
preferred terminology
across all projects and
improves the translation
quality by reducing the
possibility of choosing
incorrect translations for
specific terms.
3. It saves time by providing
a quick and easy way to
check that terms are used
correctly in the translation,
and it allows you to
manage the instructions
and preferences in one
centralized place.
In other words,
terminology management
helps with consistency,
accuracy, and efficiency.
Termbases
and Glossaries
Sometimes the terms
glossary and termbase are
used interchangeably, but
they are different.
In its most basic form-
and in the context of this
industry-a glossary contains
a list of terms along with their
preferred translations. It's
usually created using Excel
or CSV files and includes
two columns: one for the
source term and another for
the target term. Depending
on the complexity of the
project, it can also be useful
to add clarifications such as
definitions and usage samples.
That's when a glossary
morphs into a termbase,
which is a list of terms paired
with corresponding terms
in the target language along
with additional information
about the terms, including
definitions, examples, and
clarifications. Termbases
32 The ATA Chronicle | January/February 2023
are typically integrated
into a computer-assisted
translation (CAT) tool, which
can run quality checks and
ensures the termbase is
always properly used.
Some useful information
that can be added to a
termbase includes:
y Information about usage
within context. For
example, you could specify
if the translation included
in the termbase should be
used for a specific context,
such as call to action (CTA)
buttons (prompts on a
website that tells the user
to take some specified
action), or if it should be
used when the term is
acting like a verb or a noun.
y Specifications about which
part of the speech the term
belongs to, its gender,
number, and its definition.
y Reference images for
terms that might need
visual context.
y A list of forbidden terms
(terms the client doesn't
want you to use).
y Case-sensitivity rules.
Creating a Termbase
Most CAT tools allow you
to create a termbase within
the program itself. You can
also create a termbase from
a glossary that you import
into the " Termbase Editor "
of your CAT tool. That
glossary could be an Excel
file but, depending on the
tool utilized, it could also be
in other formats.
Once you've chosen the
file to be uploaded to the
tool, the most important
considerations are:
y Which column will be
imported as terms.
y Which column will be
imported as definitions
(if any).
y Which column will be
imported as " other field "
(if any).
y Which content will be
included as " do not
import " (especially if
you only want to import
some languages to your
termbase from the
total included in your
glossary).
These options may appear
differently in your CAT tool,
but Figure 1 on page 33
shows how you can leverage
the glossaries you have
in Excel and turn them into
a termbase.
How Termbases Work
When the termbase is
properly integrated in the
CAT tool, source texts are
automatically searched
for relevant terminology.
Your suggested translations
are also searched for all
terms included in your
termbase. The terms are
displayed on the screen of
www.atanet.org
http://www.atanet.org
The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2023
