If you’re interested in finding out more on this topic, you can read our free guide on how to maintain international brand consistency by using glossaries here: [ Ссылка ]

(This video was first published in May 2017.)

In this episode of The Translation Show, Emily MacKenzie from Webcertain talks about why it’s important for you to have a glossary when you’re translating content from one language to another.

(00:17) What is a glossary?

A glossary, also known as a terminology database, specifies which particular words and phrases you should use in all of your online and offline content.

The three most common types of glossaries are: traditional glossaries, UI glossaries and a list of untranslatable terminology.

(01:09) Why is it important to have a glossary?

Glossaries prevent the widespread use of incorrect terminology, which can snowball if left unchecked.

Glossaries offer other advantages too. Due to the consistency that they produce, over time costs for translation will be reduced and turnaround times will become shorter, increasing efficiency overall.

(02:29) How to create a glossary.

If you have content in multiple languages, it’s advisable not to delve into all of these at once. Instead, start with your home market.

Identify the people who are responsible for coining terms in your business and get them to examine your written content. They should look at all forms of written content, including your website, brochures, marketing materials, training materials, instruction manuals and operating manuals.

From these written materials, they should extract all the relevant terms and use these to populate the glossary. My advice here would be “less is more”. Don’t feel like you have to include hundreds of terms in your glossary, just pick the most important ones.

You should also provide some context for when these terms should be used. Providing information such as definitions, its part of speech – i.e. whether it is a noun or a verb for example, complimentary terms, and examples of specific documentation in which the terms are used, will help users to know exactly how and why they should use specific words and phrases.

To keep things simple, you should use the most basic forms of verbs and nouns, and avoid using prepositions and articles. Conducting a final spell check is also strongly recommended.

Once you’ve done all this, you should ask a subject-matter expert to review and validate all the terms that have been selected to populate your glossary. Important things to look out for are double entries, conflicting entries, inconsistencies between compound nouns and the inconsistent use of product names.

(04:05) Localising your glossary.

I would recommend working with a language service provider for this step, as most will already have a workflow in place for the translation of glossaries.

You should also make sure to involve your in-country teams. Getting a native speaker from within your company to review the translated glossary will allow them to provide an insight into the most relevant localised term to include in the final database. After all, your global teams not only have the language skills, but also a deep knowledge of your products and industry.

(04:39) Updating your glossary.

First of all, when should you do updates? Updating your glossary in the middle of a project is not advisable. It’s best to wait until the end of a project, once the content has been approved and finalised. Extracting any new terms from the content at this stage ensures that moving forward they will be implemented correctly and consistently.

You should also think carefully about which person should look after integrating new words and phrases into your primary glossary. Perhaps a member of your team will be responsible for updating your primary glossary, but it’s up to you to set this in place early on. Once translated, your language service provider should be able to implement the localised terms into your bilingual glossaries for future translation projects.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are various tools available to assist in terminology management, catering to glossaries of varying sizes. Well-known examples of such tools include SDL MultiTerm, TermStar and UniTerm, although there are many others. I would suggest that you investigate the various solutions currently on the market and see which tool will work best for you. For large corporations covering several languages, it might be worth investing in a full Terminology Management System.

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