Translation in Dubai: A quick overview of managing terminology

What is terminology management? In short, it is identifying words or terms deemed to be of such importance that they must be used within and across documents with consistency. One area where it is particularly necessary is in texts dealing with a product, service and the brand and image of an organisation.

If the terminology used varies according to the translator, this can lead to confusion for the user of a service or those looking to invest in a product. The wider implication is that an organisation clearly lacks attention-to-detail and should probably be avoided. In either case, the bottom line is that income and profits are going to be affected. It is hugely expensive to harmonise terminology later on and delays in services and products becoming available or in establishing an organisation as trustworthy. To be clear, a lack of investment in terminology management has costly consequences in the future. Both effectiveness and efficiency of an organisation’s communications can be seriously hindered.

What’s termbase in legal translation?
Early investment of time and money in relation to terminology management ensures that translators can work more efficiently – there is no need for various translators to carry out their own research into terms. This has been done for them in the form of a project termbase. For proof-readers and editors, automated tools can be used to assist with quality assurance in regard to compliance with approved terminology and rules for their use where appropriate. So, common sense tells us that the absence of a termbase or approved set of terminology makes it difficult to enforce terminological consistency.

To be a position to expect compliance so terminological consistency is in place across an organisation, several steps need to be taken. The first is, quite amusingly, being clear about the terms or definitions associated with terminology management. Without this understanding, the content of a project-specific or organisation-wide approach to consistency is going to be built on weak foundations.

Role of glossaries in Dubai translation project management

So, the first thing needed is a glossary involving decision-making: what collection of words have particular meaning in a project and/or the organisation? With this collection of words in front of us, we consider if there are synonyms which would be authorised as appropriate equivalents. These are now our terms – word with special significance in a given field, organisation, project, etc. When collected together, they form the termbase: a collection of agreed terms with the parameters for accept use established. The final form our termbase takes will depend on how much detail we decide to include surrounding a term. It is this that will become the focus on the next blog post, focusing on terminology research and entry creation in more detail.