The document discusses the importance of terminology management for organizations, highlighting that inconsistent terminology can cause confusion. It reports the results of a survey of clients which found that the majority see managing terminology as crucial but many do not currently have processes for doing so. The document makes recommendations around introducing terminology management practices and partnering with language service providers.

1. Terminology – Who Cares?
Jill Fifoot Sales & Marketing Director
Fifoot,
TCUK, 22nd September 2010

2. Terminology – Who Cares?
• Introduction – About LIT
• Why did we choose Terminology?
• Some definitions
• What do YOU think?
• Why manage Terminology?
• LIT Client Survey
• Key findings
• Recommendations
• Q&A

3. About LIT
• Over 20 years experience: established in 1989 as
specialist technical translators
• Offi
Offices in UK (Cheshire), F
i (Ch hi ) France, G Germany, and ad
worldwide network of professional translators with
extensive sector knowledge
• High-tech clients in manufacturing and service
industries
30 million words handled so far this year

4. Some definitions…
• Glossary: A list of terms containing explanations
• Terminology: A collection of words that have special
meaning in a given subject field
• Terminolog Management The activity of
Terminology Management: acti it
systematically collecting, processing and presenting
words that have a special meaning in a given subject
field
• T
Termbase: A database containing t
b d t b t i i terminology and
i l d
related information

5. Why did we choose Terminology?
• Terminology management is a common constant
common,
challenge for our clients
• There is no easy way to tackle it
• Terminology affects all areas of the business:
It positions your company brand and products in the
company,
market
• Th challenge of managing t
The h ll f i terminology i present
i l is t
from source creation through to translation
• I
Inconsistent terminology can cause confusion for
i t tt i l f i f
your customers and for your translators
• For example…

6. Terminology example
Example 1 Example 2
Asynchronous Motor Discrete Input
Induction
Ind ction Motor Logical Inp t
Input
Terms are interchangeable b t which t
T i t h bl but hi h terms are used d
when should be clear and consistent for all authors and
translators

7. Terminology example
VALVE -> Translated into French, depending on context
can be:
• Valve
• Vanne
• Clapet
• Soupape
• Robinet
• And maybe others…
Managing terminology is not a simple dictionary exercise
– it requires client input and guidance

8. Why Manage Terminology?
CONSISTENCY

9. Why Manage Terminology?
• Reduces risk of inaccuracies in source documents
and translations
• Increases efficiency and quality at translation stage
due to automatic prompting of key terms (through use
of terminology management software)
• Simplifies reviewer process especially if multiple
p
personnel are involved
• Reduces cost in the long-term: source and translation
• Improves end-user (customer) experience

10. Terminology management

11. What do you think?
1. Which one of the following causes you the
biggest headache when creating and translating
content?
• Project Management
P j tM t
• Inconsistent Terminology
• Writing/Translation St l
W iti /T l ti Style
• DTP

12. What do you think?
2. Who has a process in place for managing
terminology?

13. What do you think?
3. If language terminology databases were freely
available online, would you use them?

14. Lloyd International Translations
Client Survey on Terminology
Conducted July 2010

15. LIT Client Survey: Key Objectives
• What importance, if any, do our clients attach to
terminology and terminology management?
• What are the benefits of terminology management?
• Wh i currently managing t
Who is tl i terminology and h
i l d how are
they doing it?
• What is the role of the language service provider?
• What technical solutions are our clients aware of?

16. LIT Client Survey 2010
• LIT surveyed over 20 international clients, medium-
y ,
large sized enterprises
• Respondents spanned a variety of industries including
electrical engineering, heavy plant equipment, print
technology, IT
gy,
• All respondents held team lead/managerial positions
within the field of technical communications
• 95% of respondents employed their own in-house
technical publications team
• Main sou ce languages were English, French a d
a source a guages e e g s , e c and
German

17. Key Findings
What causes you the biggest headache when
creating and translating content?
DTP
5%
Project
Style Management
10% 10%
Inconsistent
I i t t
Terminology
75%

18. Key Findings
General Opinion on Terminology
• 100% agreed or strongly agreed that managing
terminology of th source content is a very important
t i l f the t ti i t t
part of the overall authoring process
• 90% agreed or strongly agreed that consistent
terminology in the source content is a challenge for
technical authors
• 90% indicated that terminology management within
translation projects is crucial for successful technical
communications

19. Key Findings
What are the benefits of managing terminology?
• 90% of respondents said improved CONSISTENCY
• Other main benefits cited:
• Accuracy & reliability
• Protection of brand
• Increased quality of source and translated content
• Reduced long term cost of translation projects

20. Key Findings
Do you have a process in place for managing
terminology of the SOURCE content?
Don't know
5%
No process, but
planning on
Have a process in
implementing one
p
place
25%
40%
No process
30%

21. Key Findings
Who manages the terminology of your
TRANSLATED content?
Use their
Employ a local technical authors
reviewer 5%
5%
Employ an in-
house
terminologist
15%
Rely solely on
language service
provider
id
75%

22. Key Findings
Managing Terminology & Technology
• 95% of respondents were aware that there are technology tools
available to help manage terminology
• 65% could name specific technology tools: the main tools mentioned
were Acrolinx IQ™ Terminology Manager (for source content
authoring) and SDL MultiTerm™, Across crossTerm™ and STAR
TermStar ™ for foreign language terminology management
T St f f i l t i l t
• If free translation language terminology databases were available
online, 75% of respondents would use them (depending on time and
resource availability)

23. Client quotes...
• “..each technical author wants to use his/her own
terms!”
• “95% of translation issues are due to the way the text
is written in the source”
source

24. Follow-up
F ll
Recommendations
for Consideration

25. Recommendations
• Manage terminology from source through to translation by
identifying your business critical terms
• Introduce terminology management into the product
development cycle
• T kl terminology project b project: t t involve other
Tackle t i l j t by j t try to i l th
departments – START SMALL!
• Agree key terms with your language service provider so they
can generate target language termbases
• Get management buy-in

26. Involve all departments…

27. Integrate Terminology Management…

28. Partner with your LSP…
The role of the Language Service Provider (LSP) is key
key.
They can:
• Ensure key terms are used consistently through all
translation projects by using terminology
management software
• Develop source and target language termbases
• Integrate g
g glossary tools into the translation workflow
y
• Liaise with in-country reviewers to approve and sign-
off translated terminology

29. Online glossary

30. Translation Environment

31. Translation Environment
INSERT GRAPHIC HERE: demonstrating
terminology management
gy g

32. Wise words from a terminology specialist…
Uwe Muegge one of Europe’s leading terminologists
Muegge, Europe s terminologists,
recently delivered a GALA webinar on the subject of
terminology. He suggests organisations consider three
gy gg g
things:
• Terminology Management enables your organisation
to speak with one voice
• Terminology Management allows communicators
within an organisation to get it right first time
• A proactive Terminology M
ti T i l Management policy results
t li lt
in increased productivity and improved quality
assurance

33. Finally….
• Managing foreign language terminology is a
challenge for most organisations
• Helping companies to manage terminology is a
growth area in the translation industry
• All organisations use specific terms within their
content
• Moving towards a centralised online approach means
clients can have better access to and control of their
terminology

34. Any questions?
Thank you