| Term |
Explanation |
| A-Language |
Native Language.
See B-Language. |
| Accent |
Pronunciation common
to a certain group of people |
| Accredited
Translator |
Translator who
has received accreditation from a professional
institute |
| Ad
Hoc Interpreting |
Oral translation
in informal conversation. Also called
consecutive interpreting or liaison
interpreting. |
| Ad
Lib |
A spontaneous spoken
addition or alteration to a written
script |
| Adaptation
|
Rewrite of a piece
of text to be used for a different purpose
or market |
| ADR |
Automated Dialogue
Replacement |
| Affidavit |
Statement witnessed
and sealed by official (e.g. notary
public). See notarisation. |
| Alignment |
Part of the procedure
to create a translation memory by aligning
segments in a table so that each unit
has got a corresponding segment in the
cell next to it |
| Ambiguity |
Point in the source
text that is not clear and can be interpreted
at least in two ways |
| Amplitude |
Level of audio
signal |
| Announcer |
Non-character role |
| Apostille
|
Certification.
An official stamp on a document to make
it legal. This is only valid for countries
that have signed the 1961 Hague Convention
abolishing the legal requirement for
foreign public documents. |
| Attributes |
Stylistic properties
of an object including size, boldness,
colours etc. |
| Automated
Translation |
Computer-assisted translation |
| B-Language |
Second language
of the translator or interpreter. See
A-Language. |
| Back
Translation |
Translation back
into the original source language. Back
translations are used to check and validate
translations. |
| Balloon |
Circle or bubble
with words |
| Base
Line |
Line which characters
rest on |
| Bed |
Sound effect behind
announcers voice |
| Bidule |
Portable equipment
used for simultaneous interpreting when
a booth is not available |
| Bilingual
|
Native or native-like
fluency in two languages |
| Bleed |
An area that extends
over the edges of the paper |
| Bleed |
Noise picked up
by the microphone |
| Body
Text |
The main text in
a document excluding titles and captions. |
| Boom |
Overhead microphone
stand |
| Booth |
Cubicle with audio
equipment where conference interpreters
work. |
| Braille |
System of raised
dots used as an alphabet for the visually
impaired. Braille varies from language
to language and isn’t standard. |
| Camera-Ready |
Print ready, final
file |
| Caption |
Text describing
an illustration or picture |
| Cast
Off |
To calculate the
amount of space that a given amount
of text will occupy when set. |
| CAT |
See computer-aided
translation |
| Certified
Translation |
Translation that
has been certified by a certified translator
or translation company to be true translation.
See notarisation and apostille. |
| Character |
A symbol used in
a writing system |
| Character
Count |
Number of characters
– used for counting volume of
text |
| CJKV |
Chinese, Japanese,
Korean and Vietnamese |
| Cold
Read |
Addition where
no time is given to rehearse the script |
| Colour |
Subtle speech nuances |
| Computer-Assisted
Translation (CAT) |
Translation with
the aid of computer programs. Normally
either Translation memory or Machine
Translation. |
| Concordance
|
Concordancing is
searching a database of sentences to
see how a term has been used in context
|
| Consecutive
Interpreting |
Oral translation
between two languages. Interpreter waits
for the speaker to finish before starting
to interpret. This style is normally
used in small meetings and negotiations.
|
| Consistency
|
Use of the same
terms or text translated in the same
way. |
| Console |
Audio engineer’s
desk used for monitoring, recording
and editing |
| Controlled
Language |
Language based
on strict rules to standardise and restrict
terminology. Used often to facilitate
machine translations. |
| Copy |
Hard copy |
| Copywriting
|
Writing sales and
marketing related materials to a specific
brief |
| Court
Interpreter |
Interpreter providing
interpretation during legal proceedings.
Court interpreters often have specialist
qualifications or experience. |
| Crop |
Cutting edges of
a graphic |
| Cue |
Start signal given
to an artist |
| Daisy |
Digital Accessible
Information System. Standard for digital
talking books |
| DAT |
Digital Audiotape |
| Decibel |
A unit for measuring
the intensity of sound. |
| Desktop
Publishing |
Creating and producing
material on a pc or mac for publication |
| Dingbat |
Typographic symbol
e.g. bullet point |
| Distortion |
A disturbance in
the sound quality of a recording. |
| Drop
Off |
Not ending forcefully
at the end of a word or phrase. |
| DTP |
See desktop publishing |
| Dubbing |
Replacing dialogue
in another language |
| EFX |
Effects |
| EPS |
Encapsulated postscript.
File format used to transfer graphic
images between compatible applications.
Normally associated with Adobe Illustrator. |
| Fade |
To increase or
decrease the volume in sound engineering |
| FIGS |
French, Italian,
German and Spanish |
| Flop |
Changing the orientation
of an image to its mirror image |
| Free
Translation |
Translation of
the meaning and not the exact wording.
See literal translation. |
| Front
Bed |
Announcement at
the beginning of a jingle |
| Fuzzy
Matching |
In computer aided
translation, this means segment that
it nearly similar to another segment.
The level of similarity is expressed
as %. |
| Gisting
|
Rough translation
to give an idea of the context |
| Globalisation
|
Preparing software,
a website or a product for use in any
language and cultural environment. Same
as internationalisation. |
| Glossary
|
Glossary is a specialised,
single-language dictionary. |
| Gutter |
The space between
columns of text on a page. |
| Harmonizer |
Device changing
the pitch of the voice |
| Hook |
First word spoken
on high note and followed by lower note |
| Human
Translation |
Translation carried
by a person, as opposed to machine translation |
| Imprint |
Printing new copy
on a previously printed sheet |
| Indent |
Distance of text
in from the margin |
| Infrared
Receiver |
Normally a headset
receiving an interpreted message via
an infrared transmitter. |
| Inter-Line
Spacing |
Space between lines |
| Internationalisation
|
Preparing software,
a website or a product for use in any
language and cultural environment. Same
as globalisation. |
| Interpretation
|
Oral translation |
| Interpreter
|
An oral translator.
A very different skill to translation,
which is written. |
| Interpreter
Console |
Audio control center
for interpreting |
| Jingle |
A musical commercial |
| Kerning |
Space between characters. |
| Kicker |
Secondary headline
placed above a primary headline to lead
into the primary headline. |
| Language
Combination |
Source and target
language being interpreted |
| Language
Of Habitual Use |
Language that linguist
uses habitually, not necessarily mother
tongue but often the language of the
area where they live. |
| Large
Print |
Large print is
when a document uses a large font size
to enhance readability for visually
impaired users |
| Leading |
The distance between
lines of text |
| Leverage |
In computer aided
translation, this means to recycle previous
translations |
| Liaison
Interpreter |
See consecutive
interpreting |
| Literal
Translation |
Translation of
exact wording thus making it sound unnatural.
See back translation. |
| Localisation |
Adapt text, website
or software to the local market. This
can include measures, currencies, local
laws etc. |
| Machine
Translation |
Machine
translation is translation carried by
a computer using a software package.
See free translation. |
| Manuscript |
Original written
text |
| Mark
Up |
Copy with instructions
for typesetter |
| Marking
Copy |
Prepare script
with marking emphasis etc. on the script |
| Master |
Original recording |
| Master
Page |
Template for the
document that will be used as master
page for the document |
| Moon |
Embossed written
system for the visually impaired using
a series of lines and curves |
| Mother-Tongue |
Native language.
See language of habitual use. |
| Mouth
Noise |
The sounds such
as “click” on microphone
caused by dry mouth |
| Natural
Languages |
Natural languages
are spoken languages |
| Notarisation |
Certification by
a notary public that a person signing
a document has been properly identified |
| OCR |
Optical Character
Recognition. Software that recognizes
text in images to convert them into
word processing files. |
| Offset
Printing |
Printing technique
that transfers ink from plate to paper
via a rubber blanket. Allows a consistently
high image quality and quick and easy
production of printing plates. |
| Orphan |
The first line
of a paragraph appearing on its own
as last line of the page |
| Outbound
Text |
Text intended for
publication outside the organisation
|
| Pace |
Reading speed |
| Pagination |
Defining where
page breaks will occur |
| PDF |
Portable Document
Format. Preserves the layout regardless
of the platform it is viewed with. |
| Per
Diem |
Subsistence allowance
per day |
| Per
Noctem |
Subsistence allowance
per day. |
| Pitch |
The musical level
at which a person speaks. |
| Pivot |
Interpreter whose
work is used for relay. See relay. |
| Pixel |
The smallest unit
of an image on a computer screen |
| Point
Size |
Measurement of
size of font |
| Post-Production |
Work done after
the initial recording |
| Pre-Translation
|
Preparing documents
for translation especially when computer
assisted translation software is used. |
| Proof |
Hardcopy usually
for checking and correcting |
| Proofreading
|
Checking a proof
before it goes to print to ensure that
no mistakes have been left in the text.
See revision and editing. |
| Punch |
Reading with more
intensity. |
| Real-Time
Closed Captioning |
Conversion of spoken
message into closed captions to be projected
on a screen |
| Relay
Interpreting |
Interpreting from
text that has just been interpreted
i.e. interpreter B interprets from German
into English after the English has been
interpreted from French by interpreter
A (the pivot). |
| Repetition |
In computer assisted
translation, this means repetition of
segments within a piece of text or set
of files. See leverage. |
| Retour |
Interpreting from
A language to B language instead of
normal B to A language. |
| Review |
Monolingual review
to assess the suitability of the translation
for the agreed purpose |
| Revising
|
Examination that
the translation is fit for its purpose
to include comparison of source and
target texts to check for consistency,
register and style |
| Rhubarb |
The sound of many
voices talking at once on background.
Normally referred to as “walla”
in the US. |
| Roman
Type |
Can refer to either
a font family name (Garamond, times
new roman and Bodoni are all Roman fonts)
or a font where the type is “normal”
i.e. not italic or oblique. |
| Saddle
Stitch |
Staple binding
at the spine |
| SFX |
Sound effects |
| Sign
Language |
Language of hand
shapes, facial expressions and movements
used as a form of communication |
| Simultaneous
Interpreting |
Oral translation
into another language while (or nearly
at the same time as) the speaker is
speaking. Usually in booths. |
| Slate |
To call out the
details of a take |
| Source
Language |
Language in which
the text to be translated is written.
See target language. |
| Source
Text |
The text to be
translated |
| Specialised
Terminology |
Highly specific
vocabulary within a given field |
| Spot |
A commercial |
| Spread |
Two pages that
face each other |
| Standard
Line |
Used to calculate
volume of text. Number of keystrokes
per line varies from country to country |
| Standard
Page |
Used to calculate
volume of text. Number of keystrokes
varies from country to country |
| Stet |
Editing symbol
to cancel a previous correction |
| Style
Sheet |
Document specifying
requirements for style for the text
to be translated. Includes details such
as style, target readership, company
terminology etc. |
| Subsistence
Allowance |
Allowance for expenses.
|
| Sworn
Statement |
Statement certifying
that the translation is a true translation |
| Tabletop
Booths |
Dividers between
interpreters on desk. |
| Tag |
Information placed
at the end of a commercial containing
e.g. date and time |
| Take |
Recording |
| Target
Audience |
Group of people
who the interpreter is interpreting
for. |
| Target
Language |
Language
which the text is to be translated into.
See source language |
| Target
Readership |
Group of people
who the translation is aimed at |
| Tempo |
Speed |
| Terminology
Software |
Data processing
tool for creation and editing of dictionaries
and glossaries |
| Text
Expansion |
Increase in the
length or space the translation takes
up |
| Text
Function |
Purpose for which
the translation will be used |
| Text
Reduction |
Reduction in the
length or space the translation takes
up |
| Text
Type |
Class of text e.g.
report, press release etc. |
| TM |
See translation
memory |
| TMX |
Translation memory
exchange format |
| Tone |
A sound or the
pitch of a specific sound |
| Tourguide
System |
A small portable
interpreting system allowing high mobility. |
| Trailer |
Commercial promoting
a film release. |
| Transcription
|
Conversion of spoken
text into written format |
| Translation |
Rendering written
text from one language into another
|
| Translation
Memory |
In computer assisted
translation, this means a database where
equivalent segments of source and target
languages are stored side by side |
| Translation
Unit |
In computer assisted
translation, this means the combined
source segment and the corresponding
target segment |
| Translator
|
A person who renders
written text from one language into
another |
| Transliteration
|
Conversion of text
from one script to another system of
writing |
| Transmitter |
Receives a signal
and sends it to delegate headsets. |
| Travel
Costs |
Actual travel costs |
| Travel
Time |
Charge made for
time spent travelling |
| Typo |
Typographical error |
| Voice
Print |
The unique fingerprint
created by a voice. |
| Voice-Over |
Audio commentary
on DVD, film, television programme etc. |
| Walla |
The sound of many
voices talking at once on background.
Normally referred to as “rhubarb”
in the UK. |
| WF |
Editing mark to
indicate wrong font |
| Whispering
Interpreting |
Simultaneous
interpreting where interpreter sits
close to the listener and whispers the
translation |
| Word
Count |
A standard to measure
volume of a text. In the UK they are
based on a cost per 1000 words |
