Terminology management software for your translation needs

Terminology management software for your translation needs

When you’re reading a product label or instruction booklet, how much jargon do you see? Chances are quite a bit.

Jargon and technical terms fill the pages of documentation across all industries. High compliancy industries are especially prone to seeing technical verbiage in content. When translating these terms, many translators get stuck or confused.

  • Is the term used to compete with other products or services in the market?

  • Is one translation of the term stronger than the other?

  • What’s the correct technical term in other languages?

Translating taglines, marketing materials, and other types of business documents often becomes muddled with these questions and uncertainty. An incorrect translation could weaken the text and dilute the meaning.

What is terminology management?

Many companies use words and jargon that is specific to their organization. These terms need to be stored, shared, and translated consistently across all documents and languages.

Terminology management ensures that each term is translated consistently across all languages. By managing how various terms are used, translators have a better grasp on the meanings and how to appropriately translate these groups of words into other languages.

Why does it matter?

Without managing terminology, your translations become unreliable. Your branding suffers because consumers struggle to understand the meaning in certain cultures or countries.

Without managing the terminology used in your business, your translations become more daunting. The time and resources it takes to find various meanings add up quickly. With terminology management software, you can shorten translation time and reduce your costs.

Using a term base

A term base is a central tool used to systematically manage terms across various languages. This program should be used in conjunction with your current translation system. Add specific terms to your term base in the source language and in the translated languages. When your language service provider (LSP) is working on a new text, he can access the term base and find the correct translation for the term in question.

Benefits of using terminology management tools

Terminology management tools are not the same as translation memory tools.

Terminology management focuses on creating and elaborating on a searchable database with all the approved terms and usage regulations. Some of the benefits to using this type of tool include:

  • Store segments of text. Pairing certain words together can significantly change the meaning of the individual terms. You can store full sentences and full paragraphs of text. This is especially valuable for legal texts and contracts.

  • Ensure the consistency of each translation. Sometimes you will have different LSPs working on your legal documents and your marketing documents. It’s vital  that the text remains consistent across all translations. Giving the same access to all LSPs will ensure that everyone translates the key terms the same, no matter the context of the document.

  • Improve turnaround times and quality. The more information your translator has to work with, the better your translation will turn out. Giving your translator access to your terminology management tools, you’ll have faster turnaround time and higher quality results.

The searchable nature of these vital tools makes it easier for your team to be more flexible when translating text and adding new terms.

Conclusion

Keeping your term base up-to-date with the most common words, sentences, and paragraphs used in both your business and your industry, will help your business complete translations faster and cheaper. With these tools in place, you have better control over your text and more consistency across all departments.