The Benefits of Terminology Management

A significant portion of localization spending originates from the revision of inconsistent material—that is, products whose translated documents, either semantically or otherwise, are not in keeping with your organization’s branding or previous line of products. This lack of inconsistency between and among translated documents is, for the most part, a product of poor terminology management at the source. Therefore, it’s widely recognized by professionals in the localization industry that effective terminology management is a decisive factor in the overall quality and consistent translation of your product’s documentation and other marketing collateral.

Effective terminology management will enable you to:

• Streamline authoring and editing – Having a comprehensive termbase available at the outset of a project gives developers and writers the freedom to work without wasting time researching terms on their own. This not only saves time, it also reduces the risk of different people coming up with different terms for the same feature.

  

• Create coherent documentation – All instructional documents in a product line must be consistent in the naming of different functions in order to maximize consumer usability. In addition to maintaining terminological consistency within a single document, you must also ensure consistency across all related documents, document types, and even languages. With a clear terminology management strategy in place, you can avoid all post-sales support costs that arise from inconsistent corporate nomenclature.

  

• Orchestrate consistent communication –  Successful product launches involve a host of different communication types, including specifications, drawings, user interfaces, software strings, help systems, technical documentation, marketing materials, and documents for regulatory submission, etc. As multiple authors typically contribute to these forms of written communication, terminology management is the most efficient solution for ensuring that your entire organization speaks with one voice.

  

Managing terminology is all about achieving consistency. Without a strong terminology management strategy built into your localization workflow, you run the risk of losing revenue, weakening usability and, in the case of manufacturing, putting the compliance of your internationally-bound products on the line.

CSOFT can help you avoid these pitfalls by:

• updating your specific product glossaries, regularly and systematically,
• leveraging your already existing glossaries, thereby helping you cut costs,
• defining and organizing preferred terms, and
• preventing the use of deprecated terms.

If you would like to know more about how we can help streamline your terminology management process, feel free to check out CSOFT’s terminology management solutions.