Terminology management is becoming more and more popular, at least that’s what some recent reports and surveys confirm.
The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) agency released its 2009 Terminology Report. Its goal is “to promote common understanding and common usage of disaster risk reduction concepts and to assist the disaster risk reduction efforts of authorities, practitioners and the public.”
SDL conducted a survey on terminology management (see my previous blog on this). Its 330 respondents included business and localization professionals predominantly in the IT, software, and manufacturing sectors. According to the results, 95 percent of those taking the survey “recognized the necessity to have the appropriate processes in place to manage their terminology and localization terminology,” but that they often found inconsistencies in the source content. Participants in the survey linked terminology to maintaining brand consistency and increasing productivity.
A survey of the Common Sense Advisory on “How to Avoid Terminology Mismanagement” define the terms used in terminology management, flags the most common technology solution, and enumerates practical requirements for choosing a software solution.A
And finally, another report of the Common Sense Advisory, the Case for Terminology Management, based on interviews with corporate and government terminologists also emphasizes the importance of terminology management in a corporate environment.
(Well, just a footnote: if companies finally realize how important terminology management is for growing and reaching foreign markets as well as making internal and external communication possible, maybe they should also start thinking about SHARING THEIR TERMINOLOGY! More on this maybe another time…)
Source: http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2009/01/26/t19t-studies/
Tags: survey, terminology management
Terminology, Computing and Translation 
13/05/2009 at 04:12 |
Hi Atilla,
Thanks for this informative post on terminology management. Very helpful. To add to this, I wanted to pass along this link to a white paper on this very topic by industry Uwe Muegge:
http://csoftintl.com/shownews.php?id=161
In sum, he makes the case for terminology management by saying:
“As multiple authors typically contribute to…communications, terminology management is the most efficient solution for ensuring that the organization speaks with one voice.”
Just some more info to share on this very important topic.