Translation Glossary

While many digital product makers choose machine translations for the very start (and it’s a standard best practice for early stages of development where MT-pre translate is a rational decision), they often forget that machine translation alone yields subpar results.

It’s vital to focus on the highest possible quality of translation when it comes to product interfaces and product marketing. But enlisting professional translators is not a silver bullet solution. You need to be diligent and prepare a sound basis for successful localization.

These are best practices to ensure the best translation quality:

• Read how to Make your translators happy to cooperate
• Prepare your glossary
• Prepare your style guides
• Upload screenshots of your product to improve the context
• Make sure there are multiple rounds of quality assurance. You can e.g., follow the first round of translations with proofreading.
• Perform thorough localization testing

A translation glossary should include a list of terms used in the Localazy project, related to the particular domain of knowledge and their definitions. It should also contain industry-specific terms and provide their clarification. The glossary should also provide some context for translators on the context of the term.

Don’t forget to include the following:

• Product Names and Branding: Include translations for product names, trademarks, and branding elements to ensure consistency and accuracy in branding across different language versions.
• Key Terminology: Start by listing the most important terms specific to the subject matter you’re translating. These could be industry-specific jargon, technical terms, or any words unique to the project or the field.
• Term Description: Provide clear definitions for each term to ensure translators understand their precise meaning and usage in context.
• Preferred Translations: If the term is not to be translated, specify it in the settings, if you want to translate it, include the preferred translations or equivalents for each term in the target language. This helps maintain consistency across all translations.
• Contextual Usage: Provide examples on how each term should be used in different contexts. This helps translators understand the nuances of the term and use it appropriately.
• Acronyms and Abbreviations: List any acronyms or abbreviations used in the source content along with their full meanings and translations.

The Glossary allows you to prevent certain terms from getting translated or define correct translations for them.

You can specify that certain entries, such as specific names and industry terms, should not be translated - just make sure the “Translate to other languages?” checkbox is left unchecked.

Yes, with the Connected Projects feature, you can distribute glossary terms across all your projects. Each new glossary addition in any of the connected projects will automatically be shared with the others.

Learn more about glossary sharing in the documentation

A Glossary and a Translation Memory ™ are both tools used in the field of translation, but they serve different purposes:

Glossary: #️⃣

• A glossary is a list of terms and their corresponding translations in one or more languages.
• It provides translators with consistent terminology throughout a translation project, ensuring uniformity and accuracy.
• Glossaries are particularly useful for technical or specialized content where specific terminology is essential.
• They can also include contextual information or usage notes to clarify the meaning of terms further.

Translation Memory ™: #️⃣

• A translation memory is a database that stores segments of text, such as sentences or paragraphs, and their translations.
• When a translator works on new strings, the TM compares the new strings to those stored in its database. And if a similar segment has been translated before, the Localazy TM suggests the previous translation to the translator, saving time and ensuring consistency.
• TMs are especially beneficial for projects with repetitive content, such as software localization or technical documentation.

In summary, while a glossary focuses on defining and standardizing terminology, a translation memory aids in reusing previously translated text segments to improve efficiency and maintain consistency across translations.

Both glossary and translation memory are included in the Free plan of the Localazy platform.

Currently, there are two built-in engines that take your glossary terms into account when translating:

1. DeepL integration
2. Google Translate integration

While these integrations provide helpful translation capabilities, please note that the output of these engines and their models cannot be guaranteed to be 100% reliable. We cannot take responsibility for the translations they provide. The accuracy depends on the language pair (English as source is recommended) and the provider performance.

Another way to translate your strings automatically with glossary terms respected is to configure the OpenAI integration for your account.

Remember: It is always recommended to follow machine and AI translation with a human review. If you don’t have the workforce available for reviewing your MT translations in-house, you can activate our Human-Assisted Machine Translation service.