Professional translation: the importance of terminological management

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Terminological management in professional translation: what is it about?

In the field of professional translation,terminology management includes two main activities:

The development of sector-specific glossaries, by client or by theme

The creation of translation memories (TM)

To create glossaries, we collect the terms over time or before making a translation. We group technical terms, specific or recurring, that are frequently found in texts of this type.

On the other hand, to build a memory adapted to professional translation,it is necessary to have specific tools. These tools allow you to keep entire texts subdivided into sentences, paragraphs or periods. Thus, we can easily find similar terms or syntactic structures.

The benefits of terminological management in professional translation

Professionals and clients alike are undeniably benefiting from terminology management. These include:

·         quality

·         economy

The first advantage is easy to imagine. In a professional translation,glossaries and translation briefs serve as a reference. This specific terminology allows the register of the original text to be kept as well as the original meaning. Moreover, these two resources ensure terminology coherence within the text or project. This homogeneity would otherwise be impossible to achieve.

The economic benefits are less obvious, but very real. Indeed, translation briefs have a terminological "recycling" function. Terms, phrases or passages that have already been translated can be reused. There is no need to re-translate them or take it all from A to Z. The benefits of this include:

·         Saving time for the translator. This prevents him from repeating a search he has already done or translating the same sentence in its entirety. With these programs, you just have to select it from memory and reuse it automatically.

·         Saving money for the customer. In fact, the billing of professional translations takes into account the "recycling" rate. If a sentence repeats, it is only billed once to the customer. The calculation is done automatically using specific tools.

Professional translation and terminology management: two sides of the same coin

These explanations demonstrate why professional translation services is inseparable from terminology management.

The professional carefully and systematically manages and preserves the translations he has made to reuse them and create specific glossaries and memories. The ultimate goal is not only time savings, but also customer loyalty. It is indeed reassuring to turn to a professional who has an important terminology heritage.