Terminology Management

It is becoming increasingly acknowledged that managing  your organization’s key terms and phrases successfully are critical for consistent, clear communication.  Having several different words or phrases to define a product, a process, or a service can lead to misunderstanding, confusion and frustration, not only for customers but also for everyone within your organization.  At worst, it can lead to the hiring of lawyers to unpick the implications of an ambiguous set of multiple terms.  And we are only talking here of the company’s core language.

Think of what happens if you wish to operate in several language markets!  Without a controlled creation of agreed key glossary terms and phrases, that are regularly monitored, it is likely that a severe breakdown in communication will arise between your organization and your customers and employees in the local country, however brilliant your translations may be.  The result will be loss of revenues as customers turn away, workforce productivity in the local market compromised, along with a poisonous resentment that the Headquarters country simply does not know or care about their target countries linguistic preferences.  Remember that your employees in your target country market think and speak in their own language, however good they are at talking to you, and it is critical to ensure that when they are speaking on your organization’s behalf that they say what you really mean, and not what they think you mean!

The ideal way to avoid all of the above is to develop a database of key terms and phrases across all your publications – product information, marketing collateral, training material and websites – to which all your content authors agree and abide by.  These terms and phrases should then be translated and subsequently verified by your target country offices, or distributors.  It is only after the glossaries have been signed off should any translation begin.   Undertaking this process first, rather than last, will save a huge amount of time and cost in translation time, as well as recovery costs in revising a completed translation, that will, more often than not, be holding up printing and distribution, incurring even more cost overruns. 

Further Information:
Desktop Publishing
Project Cycle Wheel
Web sites

Translation Management has the knowledge and experience to help in the creation, translation, verification and monitoring of your terminology and glossaries.  The benefits are tangible:

·          Clear and unambiguous communications to
 your prospects, customers and workforce

·          Speedier delivery time to market for
 future publications

·          Reduction of overall translation costs