How to transform accumulated translations into a term base that reduces cost, improves consistency, and preserves brand voice across all markets.
- Start from what you already approved
- Decide the contested terms deliberately
- Keep it alive
Start from what you already approved
Most organisations already own the answer to most terminology questions — it is sitting in approved labelling, past filings and shipped manuals. It is simply not written down in one place.
Building a termbase usually begins as an extraction exercise rather than a decision exercise. Harvest what has been approved, surface the conflicts, and decide only those.
Decide the contested terms deliberately
Extraction will reveal the same concept rendered several ways. Each conflict needs an owner and a decision, and the decision needs a reason recorded — otherwise it gets re-litigated in six months.
Prioritise by consequence: regulated and safety terms first, product naming second, general vocabulary last.
Keep it alive
A termbase that is not maintained decays into a historical record. Assign ownership, review it when product lines or labelling change, and require new terms to be added as projects introduce them.
Confirm with your vendor how the asset is delivered to you and in what format. It is your asset; a vendor maintains it, but it should not live only on their side.