Best Practices for Using a Termbase?

[kathryngz]

Hi all,

I just used Lingo for the first time to translate online help for a web application. I was really pleased with Lingo's features!

We had a problem, though, unrelated to Lingo, but which I think Lingo could help us solve. When I got the translated files back from the translators, they had not always translated the application's interface consistently. So this time around, I had to make manual corrections so the terms in online help matched the terms in the application interface.

But it looks like using a termbase could help us avoid these problems in the future. So here's my question: Can anyone offer guidance on best practices for ensuring consistency of interface terms in translation? I'm wondering if I should set up variables in Flare, and put the variable terms in the termbase. (I just got pulled onto this project, so the files were created by someone else--no variables have been set up yet.) I'm wondering how variables work with a termbase and if they'd be part of solving this problem.

Thanks!

Kathryn

[kathryngz]

Update: I learned from an online presentation that variables should only be used in translations for things you don't translate, such as a part number.

Also, I played around with a test termbase and learned how it works. Essentially, you enter terms and their translations in the term base. In Lingo's dual editing screen, each time you click a line to be translated which contains a term in the termbase, a popup window allows you to select the standard translation. Pretty slick. In our case, where we send XLIFF files to our Translation Department to translate, I can just send them the exported termbase file in TMX format.

[kwag_myers]

I use a practice I learned while working in a DITA environment and tag interface labels with either uicontrol or wintitle, e.g., <span class="uicontrol">Save</span>. The translators seem to catch on to the fact that these are proper nouns and I haven't had much trouble with variations.

[s909]

Update: I learned from an online presentation that variables should only be used in translations for things you don't translate, such as a part number.

I realize that that is an old post, but would anyone have a link to that presentation (or similar)? I'm trying to get my head around Lingo & termbases, and any help would be appreciated.

I use a practice I learned while working in a DITA environment and tag interface labels with either uicontrol or wintitle, e.g., <span class="uicontrol">Save</span>. The translators seem to catch on to the fact that these are proper nouns and I haven't had much trouble with variations.

Also, when using span tags as you did above, were the tags included in the source or term, or just the text that's in between the tags? If no tags are used, how did you differentiate UI text with regular text when translating?
E.g. <span class="uicontrol">Help</span> vs Help