yndigo

Specialized glossaries on the web

Translators know this fact well but to many, oddly enough, it seems to come as a surprise: knowing a language doesn’t mean you know all the words in that language. “How do you say ‘joist’ in French?” a friend of mine renovating his apartment asked while giving his French neighbor and me a walk-through of his place. “What’s a joist?”

What made him think that during my studies of French culture and literature I was secretly planning my career as a building contractor? Of course my friend is not alone in his naiveté; few seem to realize that specialized terminologies and industry jargons constitute entire sets of knowlege not covered in grammar and conversation classes. Anyway, I try not to hold grudges, so my friend and I are on good terms again.

Thankfully many industry specialists have spent countless hours compiling dictionaries and glossaries just waiting for translators to reap the rewards. Many of them are published by private companies for client education. A whole host of them have been collected and organized by lexicool.com. Below are just a few:

Multilingual Dictionary of Recreational Diving and Underwater Activities: this dictionary was compiled by Richard Watesse and claims 2,500 terms in 6 languages.

SCA Containerboard Glossary: this dictionary contains terms in 7 languages related to the production and application of corrugated and cardboard materials.

Technical Sugar Terminology: The Committee on Technical Terminology of the German Association of Sugar Technologists VDZ puts out this 13-language glossary for the sugar manufacturing industry.

Diccionnario de Términos del Calzado: an 83-page PDF; bilingual (French-Spanish) glossary of shoe making.

CMA Meat Cuts Glossary: although the languages are not cross-linked, 13 languages in all are featured. With photos!

Illumination Vocabulary: 700 terms in four languages: English; French; German; Turkish.

Obviously I’ve just scratched the surface here, merely in an attempt to show the enormous wealth of the web. For translators, a well designed and comprehensive industry-specific glossary is a gold mine. The caveat of course is that not all resources agree on terminology. The depth and accuracy of glossaries will have to be checked against other dictionaries and industry literature.