Glossaries Usage Guide
Yee
Sep 10, 2024
1 What is a glossary?
A glossary is a systematic directory used to record commonly used terms and their standard translations in a specific field or project. These terms typically cover names of people, companies, places, products, technical terms, and proper nouns.
Using a glossary can effectively ensure consistency and accuracy in translation.
In technical manuals, glossaries help unify the translation of brand names, technical terms, and product names. In the academic and research fields, glossaries ensure the standardization of terms, such as technical terms, drug names, and academic terminology. In literary and cultural translation, glossaries provide standardized translations for names, place names, cultural customs, and specific expressions.
Glossary in O.Translator
In O.Translator, each glossary consists of one or more glossary entries, which include the source language term (source text) and the target translation you specify (target text). Glossaries can support multiple language pairs.
You can add multiple glossaries and choose to use them when translating documents. This ensures accuracy and consistency in translation.
Give priority to the glossary during translation
The glossary provides a reference for translation, and the translations specified in the glossary are prioritized during translation.
In most cases, the glossary ensures that the translation proceeds as expected. However, if a translation does not conform to the glossary, you can use post-editing to make corrections.
2 Creating a glossary
In O.Translator, we offer two ways to create a new glossary: manually creating one or uploading an existing glossary (supporting .xlsx and .tbx formats).
Create manually
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Access the 'Personal Center' and select 'Glossary'.
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If you have not created a glossary yet, click 'Create Glossary'.
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If you already have a glossary, you can also choose 'Create Glossary' or upload a file.
- Finally, enter the glossary name and confirm to create a new blank glossary.
Upload .xlsx and .tbx to create
Refer to the two diagrams above, the 'Upload Glossary' button and the 'Manual Create' button are located on the same page. Select the relevant file type and upload it.
After the uploaded file is parsed, a glossary draft preview will be generated, allowing you to adjust the original text and translation in the preview.
.xlsx Preview Adjustment
When parsing .xlsx files, the system will default to selecting the first column as the original text and the second column as the translation.
You can reassign the columns for the original text and translation, and the program will automatically parse them.
After making adjustments, save the file to generate a new glossary.
.tbx Preview Adjustment
When parsing .xlsx files, the system will default to selecting the first langSet tag as the original text and the second langSet tag as the translation.
You can reassign the tags for the original text and translation, and after making adjustments and saving, a new glossary will be generated.
3 Editing a glossary
On the glossary page, you can select a glossary to click on and enter the glossary details.
For a single glossary, you can rename, delete, and export it.
For entries in the glossary, you can add or delete individual entries and edit the original and translated text of each entry.
4 Using a glossary
When translating the same document, you can select multiple glossaries and then start translating.
5 Exporting a glossary
Currently, exporting to .xlsx files is supported, and more glossary formats, such as .tbx, will be supported in the future.
6 Tips for use
Use with Post Editing
In most cases, the translation will strictly adhere to the glossary, translating the original text into the specified translation.
If the translation does not match the glossary, you can use Post Editing tools for modification and correction.
For a tutorial on using Post Editing, please refer to: How to Use Post Editing >>
Refer to the sample file
Download glossary-example.xlsx
The glossary has a large amount of data
For glossaries containing a large number of entries (e.g., more than a thousand), it is recommended to first edit the .xlsx or .tbx file locally before uploading, as this is more efficient.
