Translation & Localization Acronyms Guide
Your comprehensive reference for understanding the essential acronyms used in translation, localization, and language technology
About This Guide
The translation and localization industry is filled with specialized acronyms and abbreviations that can be confusing for newcomers and even experienced professionals. This comprehensive guide covers 69 essential acronyms across six key categories, helping you navigate the terminology used in modern language services.
Whether you're a translator, project manager, localization engineer, or client working with language service providers, this guide will help you understand the technical terms and industry jargon you'll encounter in your work.
CAT Tools & Technology(15)
Computer-Assisted Translation
Software tools that help translators work more efficiently by providing features like translation memory, terminology management, and quality assurance checks.
Translation Memory
A database that stores previously translated segments (sentences or phrases) to be reused in future translations, ensuring consistency and reducing translation time.
Machine Translation
Automated translation performed by computer software without human intervention, using rule-based, statistical, or neural network approaches.
Neural Machine Translation
An advanced form of machine translation that uses artificial neural networks to produce more natural and contextually accurate translations.
Machine Translation Post-Editing
The process of reviewing and correcting machine-translated content to improve its quality and accuracy.
Translation Management System
Software platform that manages the entire translation workflow, from project creation to delivery, including resource allocation and quality control.
Application Programming Interface
A set of protocols and tools that allows different software applications to communicate and share data, commonly used to integrate translation services.
Content Management System
Software that helps create, manage, and modify digital content, often integrated with translation workflows for multilingual websites.
SDL Trados Studio
One of the most widely used CAT tools in the translation industry, now known as Trados Studio after RWS acquisition.
XML Localization Interchange File Format
An XML-based format for exchanging localization data between tools, ensuring compatibility across different translation platforms.
Translation Memory eXchange
An open XML standard for exchanging translation memory data between different CAT tools and systems.
TermBase eXchange
An open XML-based standard for exchanging terminology data between different terminology management systems.
Quality Assurance
Automated checks performed by CAT tools to identify errors such as missing translations, inconsistent terminology, or formatting issues.
User Interface
The visual elements and controls through which users interact with software, requiring careful localization for different markets.
Optical Character Recognition
Technology that converts images of text into machine-readable text format, useful for translating scanned documents.
Translation Standards & Formats(7)
International Organization for Standardization
Global body that develops and publishes international standards, including several for translation quality and processes (e.g., ISO 17100).
European Norm
European standards for translation services, such as EN 15038 (now superseded by ISO 17100).
American Society for Testing and Materials
Organization that develops technical standards, including F2575 for quality assurance in translation.
Unicode Transformation Format - 8-bit
A character encoding standard that supports all languages and special characters, essential for multilingual content.
eXtensible Markup Language
A markup language used to structure and store data in a format that's both human and machine-readable, commonly used in localization.
HyperText Markup Language
The standard markup language for creating web pages, requiring special handling during translation to preserve code structure.
JavaScript Object Notation
A lightweight data format commonly used for storing and exchanging localization strings in software applications.
Localization & Internationalization(12)
Localization
The process of adapting content, products, or services to meet the language, cultural, and technical requirements of a specific target market.
Internationalization
The process of designing software or content in a way that makes it easy to adapt for different languages and regions without engineering changes.
Globalization
The overall process of making products and services available worldwide, encompassing both internationalization and localization.
Right-to-Left
Text direction used in languages like Arabic and Hebrew, requiring special layout considerations in localization.
Left-to-Right
Text direction used in most languages including English, French, and Spanish.
Globalization, Internationalization, Localization, and Translation
Comprehensive term encompassing all aspects of making products and content available globally.
Search Engine Optimization
Practices to improve website visibility in search engines, requiring special consideration in multilingual contexts.
Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Collective term for East Asian languages that share similar character sets and require special handling in localization.
French, Italian, German, Spanish
Common grouping of major European languages often translated together in localization projects.
Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Geographic region often grouped together for localization and business purposes.
Asia-Pacific
Geographic region covering Asian countries and Pacific islands, representing diverse localization requirements.
Latin America
Geographic region covering Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in the Americas.
Quality & Project Management(12)
Language Quality Assurance
Systematic evaluation of translation quality based on predefined criteria and error categories.
Multidimensional Quality Metrics
A framework for describing and assessing translation quality using a hierarchical error typology.
Dynamic Quality Framework
An industry initiative to standardize quality measurement and benchmarking in translation.
Translation, Editing, Proofreading
The three-step quality assurance process commonly used in professional translation projects.
Service Level Agreement
A contract defining the expected level of service, including quality standards, turnaround times, and deliverables.
Turnaround Time
The time required to complete a translation project from start to delivery.
Project Manager
Professional responsible for coordinating translation projects, managing resources, and ensuring quality and timely delivery.
Subject Matter Expert
A specialist with deep knowledge in a specific field who can provide expertise for technical or specialized translations.
Key Performance Indicator
Measurable values used to evaluate the success and efficiency of translation processes and quality.
Return on Investment
Measure of the profitability or value gained from translation and localization investments.
Non-Disclosure Agreement
Legal contract ensuring confidentiality of sensitive information shared during translation projects.
Standard Operating Procedure
Documented processes and guidelines for performing translation and localization tasks consistently.
Linguistic Terms(12)
Source Language
The original language from which content is being translated.
Target Language
The language into which content is being translated.
Source Text
The original text that needs to be translated.
Target Text
The translated version of the source text.
Language Service Provider
A company that provides translation, localization, and related language services.
Termbase
A database containing approved terminology with definitions and translations for consistent use across projects.
Style Guide
A document defining writing conventions, tone, terminology preferences, and formatting rules for translations.
Target Culture
The cultural context and norms of the audience for whom content is being localized.
Source Culture
The cultural context and norms of the original content's intended audience.
In-Country Review
Quality check performed by native speakers living in the target market to ensure cultural appropriateness.
Desktop Publishing
The process of formatting and laying out translated content for print or digital publication.
Voice Over
Audio recording of translated script for multimedia content, requiring transcreation and timing considerations.
Business & Pricing(11)
Purchase Order
Official document issued by a buyer to authorize a translation service purchase.
Word Count
The total number of words in a source text, commonly used as the basis for pricing translation services.
Price Per Word
A common pricing model in translation where the rate is calculated based on the number of words translated.
Post-Editing Rate
The pricing or speed metric for reviewing and correcting machine-translated content.
Fuzzy Match
A segment in translation memory that is similar but not identical to the current segment, often priced at a reduced rate.
Exact Match
A segment that exactly matches a previously translated segment in the translation memory.
Context Match
An exact match where the surrounding segments also match, providing additional context confidence.
In-Context Exact
Another term for context match (101%), indicating perfect match with identical surrounding context.
No Fuzzy Repair
Segments that don't benefit from translation memory matches and must be translated from scratch.
Repetition
Identical segments that appear multiple times within the same document, often priced at reduced rates.
Master Service Agreement
A contract establishing the terms and conditions for ongoing translation services between client and provider.