Terminology work (2) – how to get started (continued)

This series offers some insights from the many workshops and presentations on terminology that I have done over the years.

In addition to product names, company names and abbreviations, you probably have a lot of other lists with things that can be considered terminology.

How about…

• Lists of products or product categories on your website?
• Lists of trademarks, trade names and maybe even some definition or explanation with it
• Images in manuals or brochures with associated parts lists (maybe already bilingual or multilingual)
• Lists of job titles (for e-mail signatures, business cards…) and job descriptions
• Lists of acronyms (abbreviated forms in capital letters, like OSW or MF’s)
• Glossaries on your website or in user/training manuals
• Table of contents and index of larger documents

And once you have collected all the stuff that is used and should be used, don’t forget all the terms and expressions that should NOT be used…

• Because they are used by a competitor
• Because the term is outmoded/outdated
• Because the term should not be used any longer after a merger of companies

Next, check the feedback in the social media, ask people in the support hotline or legal department to see what terms or phrases have drawn comments, complaints or help requests – these are the terms that definitely need to be explained and defined and need to go into your term lists.

Angelika

(Trainer for translation tools since 1997)