Terms that need attention: what are they and how do I work with them?

Glossaries are vital for our customers to ensure their messaging is standardised and on-brand. Each glossary comes as a pair: one term in the source text, and then the corresponding one in the target text. Even if it’s not translated as you would necessarily translate it, it’s the customer’s choice - they’re the ones paying for the service, so please respect their glossary terms, which they have reviewed and validated.

There are two types of glossary terms:

1. Univocal: their meaning is not ambiguous, i.e. it is the same in every context. They have a unique translation, regardless of the context. An example of this might be a specific product or description where the word will not appear in normal use, like “Wonder Vacuum” or “Teflon-coated frying pan”.
2. Terms that need attention: their meaning or translation depends on the context of the word in the text.

For example, the word light can have different meanings (this is not an exhaustive list):

1. Noun: the brightness that comes from the sun, fire, etc. and from electrical devices, and that allows things to be seen.
2. Adjective: not weighing a lot.
3. Adjective: bright, lit by the natural light of the day.
4. A verb: to set fire to.
5. A verb: to produce light that makes an object or area bright or easy to see.

When used as a noun, the word light can also change in number, e.g. one light, two lights.

To account for these differences, we are introducing context-dependent glossaries, and we need your expertise to decide which of the expected translations would better serve the context.

Check out this gif below to see what they look like 👇

What are the numbers next to the segment?

When a segment has a term that needs attention, you will see a counter on the right hand side of the segment. That counter will show you the number of terms that require your attention.

This is important information as the expected translation of that context dependent glossary term might not be enforced on the target text. You should look up the expected translations, to make sure the correct one is applied.

If there is more than one expected translation, which one am I supposed to choose?

These terms need your special attention because their translation depends on the context. This means we need you to figure out which suggestion is more suitable given the context of the text.

If you have any queries, please get in touch with our support team here.