ISO 12620

ISO 12620 defines requirements for creating, documenting, harmonizing, and maintaining data categories in terminology and language resources. These data categories act as standardized descriptors, such as subject field, definition, grammatical gender, or usage note, that make it possible to store and exchange terminology consistently across tools, databases, and organizations.

🧑‍💻 Who is it for? #️⃣

The standard is intended for terminologists, translation technology developers, computational linguists, and organizations that manage structured language resources. It is particularly valuable for those building terminology databases, computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, or natural language processing (NLP) systems.

☝️ Why is it important? #️⃣

ISO 12620 ensures that terminology metadata is structured and described in a consistent way. This improves interoperability between terminology management systems and prevents ambiguity when sharing or integrating resources across platforms.

In translation and localization workflows, it supports consistent terminology use across languages and projects.

📌 Key points about ISO 12620 #️⃣

• Provides requirements for defining and managing data categories in terminology systems
• Describes the structure and content of data category specifications
• Establishes governance rules for maintaining data category repositories (DCRs)
• Supports interoperability across terminology and NLP applications
• Helps localization and translation workflows maintain consistency in terminology usage

Note: The most recent editions are ISO 12620-1:2022 and ISO 12620-2:2022, which replaced the withdrawn ISO 12620:2019 (Edition 3) that had earlier replaced ISO 12620:2009. A revision (ISO/AWI 12620-1) is currently under development. Since ISO standards are reviewed and updated regularly, always check the official ISO catalogue entry for the most up-to-date status.