13 important translation terms
One key to working with any industry is understanding its jargon. Here are terms explaining the translation process.
First, determine if you’re looking for a translator or an interpreter. A translator converts written content from one language to another, while an interpreter converts speech orally from one language to another. Next, find a translator with your desired language pair, the two languages they’ll be working with (for example, English to Spanish).
These two languages are also known as the source language (the language of your original text) and the target language (the language you want it translated into).
You will also need to understand the following terms:
CAT software: Computer-aided translation software, or CAT software, is used by professional translators to see source and target texts side by side and to build a glossary of commonly used terms.
Desktop Publishing (DTP): The creation of documents using page layout skills on a personal computer. It is essential to have a well formatted translated text.
Localization: This process adapts a translation (or any product) to make it appropriate for a specific culture or region.
Target audience: The people you want to reach, to craft a text that is culturally appropriate in tone and language.
Termbase (TB): This is exactly what it sounds like: a database of terms. When working on a large project, translators can create a specific termbase dedicated to that project to maintain consistency and save time.
Text type: The information the text contains, such as marketing, financial, legal, scientific, medical, literary or academic.
Transcreation: A marketing technique that, like localization, focuses on adapting content from one language and culture to another.
Translation memory (TM): A database that saves previously translated text, which allows translators to ensure consistency throughout a project and helps speed up the translation.
Word count: Total words to be translated.
