Glossary making

khadis-

Dear all,

I just want to know if some of you have "glossary making" experience. I mean, a job where clients asked you to "create" a glossary for them. Is it as simple as copying and paste-ing list of term (from clients, in Ms. Excel, maybe) into SDL MultiTerm? Or, you search the industry-specific-terms by yourselves and then create the glossary? Or, how?

And about "glossary making" job, what rate should apply? Translation rate? Typing rate? Per 1000 words rate? Or, another special rate?

Many thanks.

Khadis

Dmitry

khadis- Hey @khadis-! Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum! I'd ask the client what do they need exactly and how do they plan to use the glossary.

I always create a glossary for all of my projects (for my personal use as it helps with consistency). If I was to bill my client for that service I'd bill an hourly rate because it can be a time-consuming process.

I normally create my glossaries as I go, but if it was a billable service I'd create a glossary before translating by simply going through the entire text, identifying repetitive terms and abbreviations and adding them to a simple spreadsheet.

Once I have a list of terms, I'd use a industry-specific dictionary (if available) and I'd maybe ask around on industry-specific forums to make sure my translations are 100% corrects.

Once the glossary is complete I'd convert it into a format that client wants. Depending on the size of your project and the complexity of your source documents glossary creation can take up to several hours.

I suppose it's also a good idea to ask the client to provide some sort of criteria to include terms in the glossary. For example, they might want to include technical terms that repeat at least 3 times in the text or include all abbreviations, etc.

eleonorang

Hi, Khadis!
I'm afraid the specifics of the task depend on what the particular client wants. I have heard of some clients wanting an Excel glossary of the terms used in a single translated text and of some others looking for a general glossary in preparation to a translation project. So I'm afraid it really depends on the situation.
As per the rate, personally, I would advise payment per hour of work. Once you know how you will create the glossary you should be able to estimate how many hours of work it will need.

khadis-

Hi,

Thank you for the info. Now, at least, I have "the picture". I have asked some of my colleagues here but none of them have experience in glossary making. Once again, many thanks ?

khadis-

Hi @Dmitry thanks for the explanation. Just curious, how do you charge or how do you determine the rate (20USD/hour, 30USD/hour, etc.), and how do you measure the output (e.g. 100 terms per hour)? Or is it totally depend on the document's complexity?

Dmitry

khadis- Hey @khadis-
It would all depend on the document length and complexity. I can't really share any tips as I've never done it as a paid task, but if I were to do it I'd probably charge an hourly rate. Something around 35-40 USD seems like a fair enough rate.

I would also research some software that could scan your documents and identify the density of specific terms. If there are terms that repeat at least 3-4 times and they seem like some sort of specialized terminology, I'd include them in the glossary.

When I create glossary for my own use, though, I tend to overdo it, as in CAT tools it's super easy to insert terms into text, so by adding a ton of terms into my glossary, I'm saving myself some time as I don't need to keep them in my head or type them every single time (especially if it's something very long).

khadis-

Hi @Dmitry

Thank you.

BTW, now I am interested in finding the software to scan the density of specific terms ?

Have you found some cool software or online service to do that?

What about using a service like this: http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/?

Can it be used, too? I know, it is not intended for glossary making, but it seems helpful too.

Dmitry

khadis- Have you found some cool software or online service to do that?

What about using a service like this: http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/?

Hey @khadis-!
It seems like a helpful tool! I haven't tried searching for anything in particular, but I believe that tool might do the trick.

eleonorang

Dmitry @khadis- Hey guys, that tool would be great, except: what about confidentiality? :/

khadis-

Hey eleonorang
That's it. We do really need to have a special software that will help us to collect terms "safely", so we can work faster and effectively ?
Collecting terms manually seems time consuming ?

Dmitry

eleonorang Ah, yes! The darn confidentiality, always gets in a way of doing your work more effectively!

khadis- We do really need to have a special software that will help us to collect terms "safely", so we can work faster and effectively ?

It probably exists somewhere in the deep dark corners of the Internet. Who ever finds it first gets to share it with the rest of us in this forum thread! ?