About the author: Through working in various technical and semi-technical fields, this Canadian French native has learned to be a terminologist as much as a translator. She is acutely aware of the limitations of current technology and constantly looking for new ways to go further, faster.
Terminological research is undoubtedly the most time-consuming and
least profitable task for freelance technical translators. Since most
of us are paid a fixed rate per word, the faster we can find answers to
our questions, the better! Search skills and specialized tools are
therefore playing a crucial role in our work.
1. Major terminology databases
Quick to consult, funded by governments and professional organizations,
they are often the most complete and reliable resources at hand.
2. Other terminological works
If your favorite term bases fail to provide an equivalent, the next
fastest step is to consult smaller lexicological resources: paper and
CD-ROM publications, specialized dictionaries and terms banks available
on the Web, etc. Since individual consultation of each resource is
almost impossible in a real work situation, we resort to a variety of
computerized search tools.
2.1. It is advisable to build
an authoritative library of works on your hard drive, indexable with
full-text search tools like LogiTerm
and dtSearch. Focus on
collecting terminological documents in your
areas of specialization, for instant search and retrieval during most
frequent jobs.
2.2. In order to build this
library, you need good leads. The following directories can be helpful.
3. Leveraging the World Wide Web as a public corpus
If your trusted references are still leaving you at a loss, the
following tools might accelerate your Web search. Not all languages are
covered. However, the most computer-savvy among you might be able to
create new tools, similar in concept, but even more adapted to specific
techno-linguistic needs. You can also congratulate the authors for
their good work and ask for a translation/customization of the
interface.
Thanks to Google's snippets and ranking technology, a simple keyword
search often bears highly relevant results, which can be surveyed at a
glance. Google snippets are often sufficiently clear and complete to
provide a defining context or even a definition extracted from an
online glossary.
5. A look into the future
The interesting thing about Google is that it gives a high ranking to
listings in "authoritative" directories like the Open Directory
Project. Since I began as an editor, I have noticed that my
listings
actually influence my own Google search results... In other words, the
more we submit quality sites to widely acknowledged directories like
the ODP, the more we are likely to find answers to our terminological
questions in Google and probably other search engines.
As you might already know, search engines and directories do appreciate
the input of information professionals like ourselves in the Web
republic. High-quality link collections, blogs, and the like are
instrumental to them.
While the creation of a specialized full-text search engine for
linguists seems to be utopia (for financial and practical reasons), we
can realistically hope that our contributions to Web directories in
general, and the ODP in particular, will increase the efficiency of our
work.
Marie-Pierre Lessard
English-French Technical Translator
Business and Marketing Documents for the Industry Sector
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