ProZ.com Translation Forums

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | Terminology of Chinese Period Dramas

Rosemere A da Silva — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:47:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: Rosemere A da Silva
Post title: Terminology of Chinese Period Dramas

When working with Chinese historical dramas, my process begins before the linguistic review stage.
First, I identify the main characters and determine which ones are fictional and which are based on historical figures. In the case of the Ming Dynasty, I researched the historical context surrounding Empress Sun and Emperor Xuande to better understand the social hierarchy, political structure, and diplomatic relationships of the period.
This research helps me make more accurate linguistic decisions, particularly regarding pronouns, honorific titles, forms of address, and terminology standardization. There are periods in which Brazilian Portuguese did not even exist.

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | Domain-Specific Linguistic Validation Workflow

Abhijeet Alagoudar — Sun, 31 May 2026 15:27:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: Abhijeet Alagoudar
Post title: Domain-Specific Linguistic Validation Workflow

My strategy for ensuring terminological precision begins with rigorous, domain-specific research. I first consult specialized contextual lexicons—such as authoritative law, medical, or technical dictionaries in my language—compiled by government bodies or higher education institutions. From there, I distill a customized, project-specific glossary tailored precisely to the domain's unique context. I secure client validation on this framework before production begins, ensuring absolute linguistic accuracy and eliminating downstream stylistic errors from day one.

[Edited at 2026-05-31 15:28 GMT]

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | Other

Philip Lees — Sat, 30 May 2026 04:55:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: Philip Lees
Post title: Other

If I don't think I have sufficient knowledge of the terminology before I start, I don't accept the job.

Of course, in the medical areas from where most of my work comes (or used to come), and in other technical areas, there will always be a few new words or terms, but more than one or two per page is too many.

Depending on glossaries prepared by somebody else, when you don't fully understand what you're reading, is in my view unprofessional.

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | Always on the fly

CafeTran Trainer — Fri, 29 May 2026 15:02:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: CafeTran Trainer
Post title: Always on the fly

The meaning of source terms get clearer during the translation process, when you learn from previous context.

I always choose the target terms while translating. I often have to adapt my initial choice, also because of suboptimal or inconsistent source terms.

Target terms are changed in project target segments and TM target segments in one pass.

And at the end I do a QA for terms, make everything consistent. And then I freeze the glossary. Next time, when a new project comes in, I stick to the terms from the glossary. Unless I find out that a target term isn’t optimal:).

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | I check first!

Christine Andersen — Fri, 29 May 2026 11:55:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: Christine Andersen
Post title: I check first!

If it is highly technical, I probably turn the job down, but there are a few fields where clients trust my expertise.

In that case I often have glossaries and terminology from previous jobs, but I always skim through the text to see what it is about, and whether any new terminology introduced at the start is explained later on - that may save some searching, and I can plan for consistency.

I like to have most of the terminology in place before I start translating seriously, and then everything flows better. I always have to check a few things along the way, but prefer to sort out any real problems in good time.

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | ...

Luca Adie — Fri, 29 May 2026 10:55:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: Luca Adie
Post title: ...

Usually I just dive in, but for one recent translation - a book on crochet - I did the terminology research beforehand. It was rather complicated...

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology? | Other

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Fri, 29 May 2026 08:47:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: Other

It depends on the subject matter and the size of the project. Forty years of experience mean that some subjects, even complex ones, do not pose any translation problems provided they are well written. The same is obviously not true of neologisms. When I started translating, I always compiled glossaries of the most difficult terms, which have been expanded over the years. In any case, I do not do technical translation (engineering, IT); I mainly translate in the legal, economic, political and social fields, and occasionally some medical texts…

Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?

ProZ.com Staff — Fri, 29 May 2026 08:10:05 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?
Poster: ProZ.com Staff

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "When starting a highly complex technical translation, how do you prep your terminology?".

View the poll results »