Consistent terminology is the basis for comprehensible content. It also offers many other advantages:
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It ensures that the user can quickly and clearly identify which object is being referred to.
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It ensures professionalism in external presentation.
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It ensures clarity in internal communication and it prevents misunderstandings between both departments and employees.
Terminology is therefore a topic that affects almost all areas of the company. It is therefore important to start working on terminology as early as possible in the information process and not, as unfortunately often happens in practice, during the translation phase.
Terminology as a service
In our service and outsourcing projects, we start with terminology work as early as the research stage: Here, together with the contact people in your company, we determine the first-preferred names within the company. In the further editing process, our Technical Editors record additional technical terms and add prohibited terms to this positive list. These can later be checked automatically as part of quality assurance.
Our work processes are always practice- and result-oriented, so that the development of terminology for your company – when combined with technical editorial projects – does not entail any major additional work. If desired, we include someone from the company-side as Terminology Manager during the entire process.
The resulting terminology then serves as the basis for the translation. This terminology is documented, maintained and monitored using special software which we use as standard and which is linked to the Content Management System and translation memory.
Implementation of uniform terminology across the company
The successful implementation of a defined terminology requires a "germ cell" within the company: This could be, for example, the Technical Editorial department or the Marketing department. Once a stable process and a good terminology basis have been established, these are extended to other areas of the company, which are then included in the overall process.
For example, a terminology portal in the intranet can be set up for shared use. The provision of tools with which employees can check their texts, component names, software strings, etc. has also proven to be both useful and effective.
However, this applies to the entire process: The first step is the joint development of a plan for the development and implementation of terminology, tailored to the individual needs and requirements of your company.