Why you should send terminology to your LSP

Every business industry works with its own set of keywords, phrases, and terminology that are unique to the company and the space that it operates in. While this terminology may come with ease to you and your team, it can be more of a challenge for an outsider to understand.

This becomes even more apparent when you need to have communications translated and need to retain these keywords to keep the integrity of your business and its products and service.

Identifying Your Business Terminology

Using a language service provider (LSP) to translate your materials is an effective way to communicate with customers from all over the world. You can increase the efficiency and accuracy of your documentation translations by providing the key terminology your business uses on a routine basis. You may have established keywords that are unique to your industry or company and need help conveying this information to your customers in an understandable way.

Without the right terminology description, you can easily refer to a different meaning for the word that your business uses in another way. Your company may have words or phrases that are important to understanding your way of business and the products and services that you provide. For example; you may use the phrase drive to discuss the power source of your machine while others may recognize drive as a part of their computer. Others still may see the word drive and think about cruising on the road. This level of misunderstanding can be avoided by defining the terminology that your company uses and how it relates to your business.

Creating Your Terminology Glossary

Creating a glossary can help make your terminology concrete and give your customers a guide to follow that demonstrates what your actually mean when you say the words like “drive.” These glossaries can also be quite beneficial to your LSP as they offer a quick reference guide for them to follow and create instances of these words when used in your communications.

Terminology glossaries read almost like a dictionary, providing the keyword as well as a definition as determined by your business. This can give your LSP direction when translating your documentation and avoid hours of laborious research which can be costly and time consuming to your business.

Benefits Of Using A Terminology Glossary

When you develop your company’s glossary, you need to identify the terminology that is key to your operations. You also need to think about when terms should not be translated and should remain in their original state. These may be terms that are specific to your products and services or trademark terminology that resonates with your company brand.

As you establish your business terminology glossary, you will find that are better able to communicate with your customers through your LSP as they can easily and accurately portray your keywords without any language barrier. They are able to understand quickly what message or meaning you are trying to convey through your terminology, preventing any mishaps from happening during the translations process.

Your business will be able to take advantage of quicker turnaround times from your LSP as they are able to translate materials faster. There is no tedious ramp-up time to learn your industry or business nuances, which can also help to save your company money when working with an LSP that is able to easily understand the information that is before them.

The results of using a terminology glossary also provide more accurate translations the first time around. There is no need for rework of your communication materials, which many companies can cut into deadlines and budgets. You’ll have a proper translation of your business terminology first time around as your LSP is able to create a database to refer to each time these words populate your documents, saving labour and costs.

Developing Your Business Terminology Glossary

Starting the process of creating your terminology glossary takes some initiative on your part. You to gather the words and phrases your business uses on a daily basis that may be foreign to those outside the industry. You also need to consider the definition of each of these terms and ensure they are accurately depicted in your glossary.

The biggest challenge of building a terminology glossary for your business is ensuring that your entire team is onboard with the process. They need to align their work with the glossary and be sure to utilize it each time they refer or use the terminology it holds.

Developing a glossary of terminology for your business is an ongoing process. As your business continues to evolve so will the words you use and their meanings. Be diligent and continue to maintain your glossary, so you have a record of the terminology your business uses each time you work with an LSP to translate your business communications.