Once the flow has been set up, it is the turn of the content of the work. The terminology infrastructure is the stage at which the corporate language becomes independent of individuals.
The first list is not written from scratch
The organisation's concepts that occur most often are extracted from the existing documents. This method gives a result far more quickly than starting from a blank page.
It is kept short
A list that runs to hundreds of lines is used by nobody. The organisation's own concepts, the terms specific to the field and the disputed renderings are enough.
Dictionary renderings do not go in
When ordinary words that have a single rendering are taken into the list, it becomes harder to find the term that is being looked for.
Every line carries a reason
If it is not written down why the rendering was chosen, the same discussion starts again a few months later and may give a different result.
A context field is added
The same concept can have a different rendering in different contexts. A line without context is open to being applied in the wrong place.
The approval authority is defined
The list is the record of the organisation's own decisions and requires an approval. A list without approval is not applied.
Names of organisations and job titles come first
These names occur in every document and are the part that is most visible to the outside. They make up the first section of the list.
Counter-view: this work never ends
It is true that the terminology list will never be completed. But the aim is not to complete it, it is to fix the concepts that are used most often; the first fifty lines produce more benefit than the hundreds of lines that follow.
Rejected renderings are written down too
A record of the options that are not to be used prevents the same suggestion from coming up again.
The format is portable
If the list can be opened only in the system of one supplier, the ownership remains on paper.
It is shared with the supplier
A list that sits inside the organisation does not affect the translation. It has to be sent at the start of the job.
The findings are entered in the list
When the corrections that come from feedback go directly into the list, maintenance becomes part of the work itself.
The application is scanned
The existence of the list does not produce consistency. Scanning for deviations from the terms with a tool shows that it is being applied.
The guide is kept separate
The terminology list holds the renderings, whereas the guide holds how to write. If the two are mixed, neither of them can be searched any longer.
The list must be usable
A list that sits in a file that cannot be searched or is troublesome to open is not applied even though it exists. Keeping it in an environment that the organisation uses every day is the most practical decision for getting the list really read.
A contribution is asked of the translator
The fastest way of setting up the first list is to collect the disputed concepts that emerge during translation. This method both captures the real need and stops the list from being a theoretical exercise.
Takeaway
The terminology infrastructure is the step that stops the corporate language from depending on a person. Starting from the existing documents, keeping the list short and reasoned, defining the approval authority and entering the findings in the list within the workflow: without these four the list exists as a document but does not exist in practice.