Are they worthy: What terms belong in a termbase?

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Are they worthy: What terms belong in a

termbase?
June 28, 2013 | 76 Views |

Hanne Smaadahl
more by this author

FIN Globalization Services

term selection | termbase | terminology | terminology database | terminology management

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What terms should I put in my termbase? This is one of the biggest

questions terminology practitioners ask themselves. No matter how well
designed your termbase is or how well written your definitions are, if
you are not documenting the right terms your termbase will not give you
the benefits you are looking for.

So, what terms belong in a termbase? In some ways, the sky’s the limit.
Anything that is “useful” to the development or delivery of your products
or services could be a candidate for your termbase. Obviously, this is
not practical, so where to start?

There are some key factors to consider when deciding how much
terminology work you need to do, or how big of a terminology database
you should be aiming for:

First, ask yourself if you are going to need depth or breadth. Do you
need deep documentation of a few subject areas, or a high-level
coverage of many different subject areas? Second, determine which
terms and concepts have caused problems in the past. If there were
particular topics that generated a higher than usual number of support
calls or customer complaints, this could be a good place to start.

When it comes to prioritizing terms, I like to recommend a top-down

approach. Here are a few high-level considerations to help you focus
your terminology efforts where they matter most.

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Safety of customer: The most important terms are those that could
affect the safety of your customer or employees. When the wrong terms
are used, the product user could be endangered. Examples: Terms
related to pharmaceutical prescriptions, safety equipment on an oil rig,
or assembly of landing gear on an airplane.

Survival of company: Once you have ensured that no one will lose life
or limb, it makes sense to move on to those terms that protect your
company. These would include terms related to regulatory
requirements in your industry or patents that you own. When the wrong
terms are used it could result in liability suits or loss of intellectual
property.

Survival of product: Terms in this category are concepts created by

your company. Using them correctly protects your brand and
trademarks and helps strengthening your market share. Examples:
High-level product names and registered company trademarks.

Company specific: You want to make sure that you manage the terms
that establish you as an industry leader and set you apart from the
competition. These would be terms that are related to your products or
services, or terms that you use with a non-standard meaning.

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Examples: Descriptive names of features or services below the

branding level.

Industry specific: You also want to make sure you are using the key
terminology for your industry correctly. These include terms from
vertical industries or areas where experts (outside of your company)
agree on a certain set of terms. Examples: Accounting, automotive,
biology, etc.

Efficiency: This category covers everything else that may need

additional information or standardization. It could be high-frequency
technical terms or difficult terms where documenting and managing
these terms will reduce errors or queries. If you translate your products
or documents into other languages, this category also covers those
terms that may pose translation challenges or which may need
standardization in one or more languages.

Once you have determined what types of concepts and terms to put
into your termbase, you may wonder: Where’s the best place to start?
There really is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The basic
advice is to start as early as possible with the superordinate terms,
meaning those basic terms required to understand other terms. The
definition of one difficult term might be the key allowing you to easily
define dozens, or hundreds, of other terms based on that definition. For
example, if your company specializes in watchmaking parts the
definition of escapement allows you to differentiate between lever
escapement, pin pallet escapement, and anchor escapement, amongst
others, as well as between the different tools required to work with
them.

Remember, terminology management takes time, and some

terminology management is better than none. By carefully prioritizing
your efforts you ensure you get the most return on the time you invest
in terminology work.

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