New to Translation?

New to the translation industry? Below is a list of terms that will help you get started.

Industry Terminology

Source Language – The original language of a document.
Target Language – The language(s) an original document will be translated into.
Language Pair – Source language paired with a target language (e.g. English to Spanish).
Locale – Location where a specific version of a language is used (e.g. British English, American English).
Linguist – A language expert that provides translation and reviewing services.
Transcreation – To transcreate a piece means to change the meaning of a translation to meet the cultural norms of an audience (not supported in the Enterprise Translation Management System).
Vendor – An individual or organization that provides language services.
Vendor Manager – An administrator that manages language service providers.
LSP – Language Service Provider or Translation Service Provider.
SLV – Single Language Vendor.
MLV – Multiple Language Vendor.
Internationalization – (abbreviated i18n) The process of preparing content for translation. For example, internalization could include organizing web content (menu options, etc.) into a format that can be translated.
Localization – (abbreviated l10n) The process of adjusting language content from one locale to another (e.g. American English to British English).
Globalization – Encompasses both Internationalization and Localization.
Filter – Software that extracts translatable content from a website or a software interface and prepares it for translation.
Segment – A sentence or sentence-like unit created by a filter.
Format Tag/Inline Tag – In an electronic document, formatting tags are placed around text to make it bold, italicized, underlined, etc. Translators may be required to place tags around words/phrases to format them.
CAT Tools – Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) Tools are used for performing and reviewing translations.
Cloud – An online repository where data is stored.
Translation Management System (TMS) – A software tool that manages the translation process. A TMS can guide a translation project through each stage of the translation process – from TM leverage and machine translation through human translation and review.
Enterprise Cloud-based TMS – Enterprise provides a cloud-based translation management system. Because translation memory is stored on the cloud, it can be leveraged and integrated as soon as it is created.
Language Assets – Resources that aid in translation. Examples include translation memory, glossaries, and machine translation engines.
Translation Memory (TM) – In a TMS, after a segment is translated, it is stored in the translation memory. When the TMS encounters the same segment, it can paste in the appropriate translation from translation memory.
TM Unit – A translation memory unit maps a segment from a source language to a target language, e.g.
Source (english_us) = “my car” Target (espanol_mx) = “mi carro”
Machine Translation (MT) – Translation done by a machine, e.g. Google Translate or Microsoft Translator.
Glossary – A list of terms organized from source to target language. Glossaries can be imported into a TMS and often help organizations maintain voice, style, and consistency across projects.
Localization Engineering – A localization engineer prepares electronic files for translation. This usually means extracting translatable content and segmenting it in a way that makes sense.
Pre Translation – The automatic steps that take place before human translation (e.g. machine translation, translation memory leverage, etc.).
Translation – Human translation of a document.
Review – Human review of a document.
Post Edit Machine Translation (PEMT) – In this process, a human reviews and corrects a machine translation.
Desktop Publishing (DTP) Tools – Software tools used to create page layouts and design. DTP tools are used to create fliers, marketing ads, posters, etc. and include programs such as InDesign and FrameMaker. DTP translations often need to be reviewed after a translation to ensure formatting is still intact.

Industry Standard File Types

For storing language assets and resources

XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format) – A file type that stores exchange localization project information. XLIFF can store segmentation, workflow, assignments, etc.
TMX (Translation Memory Exchange) – A file type that stores translation memory.
TBX (Termbase Exchange) – A file type for storing term bases.
SRX (Segmentation Rules Exchange) – A file type that stores rules that help documents segment correctly.
ITS (Internationalization tag set) – Stores filter configurations for which tags should and should not be translated. (For example, most web links should not be translated).

Enterprise Terminology

Community – All users from a single organization form a community. Enterprise private communities include all Linguists, Project Managers, and Community Administrators within a given organization.
Content Management System (CMS) – A software tool that helps administrators organize and manage web content (e.g. web pages, images, documents, etc.). Examples of content management systems include WordPress, Drupal, Adobe Experience Manager, etc.
Content – A file (e.g. DOC, XLS) or a web page (e.g. XML, HTML) stored within a content management system.
CMS Workflow – A series of steps used for managing content creation, approval and publication within the content management system.
Document – A piece of content that has been sent to Enterprise for translation.
Enterprise – A web-based, collaborative translation platform used for managing and completing translation projects.
Enterprise Dashboard – A web-based project management tool specific to the translation industry.
Enterprise Inside – An integration between Enterprise and a third-party application.
Enterprise Workbench – A web-based CAT (computer assisted translation) tool used for performing and reviewing translations.
Enterprise workflow – A series of steps used for managing document translation, review and approval within Enterprise.
Phase – A step within an Enterprise workflow.
Phase types – A type of phase (e.g. Machine Translation, Translate, Review, and Custom) with a unique set of configurations and a specific purpose within an Enterprise workflow.
Progress – A percentage indicating how much of an Enterprise workflow has been completed on a project, document, target, or phase.
Project – A repository of documents within Enterprise for which an Enterprise workflow has been specified for the purposes of translation.
TM vault – A database that stores segments that have previously been translated; also called “translation memory.”
Save-to Vault – The Save to vault is where all of the translation memory generated from the translation process will be saved.

TM Match Terms

TM Analysis Report – Measures all content against available translation memory. This report can be used to estimate project deadlines, workload, and cost.
Repetitions – Repetitions include any segments that are repeated throughout the project. These segments can be translated once and then added to the translation memory.
TM Match – A match between a segment in the source document and a segment stored in translation memory.

TM Matches are available in several varieties:

- Exact 100% Match – Consists of a 100% match between the source and a TM segment. All aspects - capitalization, punctuation, formatting, words and word order - are identical.
- Syntax 100% Match – A Syntax 100% match has text that is completely identical to the segment in TM (same capitalization, punctuation, words, and word order), but uses different formatting tags.
- High Fuzzy Match – 99-95% match.
- Low Fuzzy – 94-50% match.
- No Match – 50% match or below.

TM Leverage – Amount of translation memory a document is able to use.
Post-Edit Distance Report – This optional report can measure how much work a translator has done. It compares the human translation with the machine translation and evaluates what has changed.

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