If you’re reading this, it means that you’ve finally decided to go global with your business! First of all, congratulations – this decision will most likely increase your international sales and take your business to a whole new level.
However, once you’ve decided to expand your brand globally and dive into your first translation project, you will soon encounter words and phrases that you’ve never seen before. This can be a bit intimidating at first, and that’s why TextUnited has compiled a list of industry-specific localization terms that will help you understand localization and how it works.
Localization Terms Everybody Entering Global Market Should Know
CAT – Computer-Assisted Translation – CAT (or CAT tool) is a term used for a translation tool for translators which makes translation easier and faster with features such as translation memory and terminology management. CAT tool is also part of TextUnited system.
TMS – Translation Management System – This is on of the most popular localization terms. TMS is a translation system that provides management options for translation projects, including project management, fee calculation, CAT tool, translation memory, and terminology management
XLIFF – (XML Localization Interchange File Format) is an XML-based format created to standardize the way localizable data is passed between tools during a localization process and is a common format for translation.
Segment – After a file has been processed by a TMS, it will be divided into multiple segments. Segments are sentence-like units, but they can also contain multiple sentences or just single words. How a file is segmented all depends on the formatting of the file and filter settings.
Translation Memory – A set of previously translated texts stored in a database that is tied to your account. Translation memories are re-used automatically when creating new translation projects with similar content.
100% match – A segment that matches another segment in translation memory but is not in the same context.
Context Match – These are sentences already translated in the translation memory, which are in the same context as in your new texts.
Fuzzy match – A segment that has a certain similarity to other segments in the translation memory. The degree of similarity may vary between anywhere from 50% to 99%.
Gloss4ary – A list of terms that are automatically extracted from the source file. Terms can be added to a glossary individually as well. After the translator or terminologist translates key terms for the project, they will appear as terminology proposals throughout the translation project.
Continuous translation – This is one of these localization terms that we wrote a lot about in the past. Continuous translation usually involves a connected source (such as BitBucket or GitHub) which automatically synchronizes new translation content with your translation project.
Kick-Off – The start of a project.
Analysis – Every translation project is analyzed before it’s kicked off. The analysis will show the exact number of words in a translation project and the matching degree with existing translation memories and other ongoing projects.
Source file – The original version of the file that will be translated.
Source language – The language that you will translate from.
Tags – Tags represent formatting and other elements of a document. It’s important to keep them in the exact same position as in the source version of the file.
Target file – Translated version of the file.
Target language – The language you will translate into.
l10n – localization, This is a process that involves translating and changing marketing campaigns, imagery and other elements of a product and adjusting them to a specific region or country.
i18n – internationalization – this is the process of planning and implementing products and services so that they can easily be adapted to specific local languages and cultures.
Transcreation – The process of adapting a message from one language to another, while maintaining its intent, style, tone, and context.
Freelance translator – Translators who work for themselves or more companies at the same time.
In-country reviewer – This is someone on the client’s side who reviews the translation with a focus on key terminology and style.
In-house translator – A translator who is employed within your company.
Internal project/In-house project – These are translation projects that are undertaken internally within a company.
Machine translation (MT) – Translation produced by a computer program such as Google Translate or Microsoft Translator. The quality of machine-translated text in terms of meaning, grammar, and terminology may vary depending on the nature and complexity of the source text. Machine translation usually will need reviewing and some corrections by a professional translator.
MT + Human review – Text that is pre-translated via machine translation and reviewed/corrected by a professional human translator.
Proofreading /revision – The task of reviewing the translated text.
Pseudo-translation – Replacing all characters of a file with a single random character (usually with the letter X) which helps to discover any untranslatable elements in the file for translation, such as text embedded in images.
QA – Quality assurance – is an automated check of any errors that may be present in the translated content, such as terminology and translation consistency, etc.
