Recent survey results suggest that more and more practitioners in the field of technical communication understand the benefits of maintaining client- or project-specific term-bases. However, based on anecdotal evidence, it seems as if very few organizations currently have processes for validating translated terminology, i.e., employing subject-matter experts to check the suitability of those translated terms on the client side. This TC World article outlines some of the major benefits of terminology validation, the most noteworthy of which is shorter time-to-market as a result of a more streamlined translation process.

An exceprt:

“The names for the products/services an organization offers and the features/functions of those offerings typically make up the bulk of an organization’s termbase. While these items are certainly linguistic assets, they are primarily thought of as core intellectual property, which is why the creation of these terms typically involves a team of experts from multiple domains such as product management, engineering, technical communication, marketing communication, legal, etc.

However, once a term is available in the source language and the need for translation arises, more often than not, the only expert involved in the translation of terminology is the translator. In today’s business environment, most translators work as freelancers, who typically work for multiple clients/agencies and by necessity have only a limited understanding of a specific product, its competitive situation, etc. This is especially true for new products.”

Click here to read the full article