Dictionaries and glossaries are essential tools for any writer, and that includes translators. Many organizations keep terminology lists to ensure consistent use. Translators use glossaries for consistency as well, but also to avoid the need to research the same terms multiple times.

Printed dictionaries, traditionally the primary reference tool for translators, continue to be important resources, but they are costly, can be hard to find, and can become outdated in a very short time. Today, electronic dictionaries and glossaries abound, and their use is widespread. The reasons are obvious: printed dictionaries are static, and cannot keep up with the volume of terminology that is created in many specialized fields. In addition, updating them is costly, and publication of a new edition of a dictionary can take years. By contrast, today's electronic materials can be updated quickly and frequently, especially on-line dictionaries.

If your organization keeps terminology lists that could be useful for the translators on your team, be sure they have access to them, especially if they are bilingual, perhaps developed during previous translation efforts. Monolingual source language terminology lists are useful as well, particularly if they include definitions of concepts that are specific to field or industry involved.

The pages in this section list some monolingual, bilingual and multilingual glossaries and terminology databases related to the fields of meteorology, hydrology, and climate studies, as well as some general resources you can refer translators to. The lists are language-specific.

Even with the wealth of resources at their disposal, translators will keep their own project-specific glossaries of terms, to ensure consistent use, and document choice of variants, decisions made by reviewers, etc. These glossaries are important tools, and you should encourage them share them with you for use in future projects.

Last modified: Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 10:27 AM