Translation glossary creation, style guides, and translation memory
AI translation is only as consistent as the rules behind it. If you have no glossary, style guide, or translation memory (TM), or yours are out of date, we build them with you before production starts. We build your translation glossary from your own published content, and every term carries its source. The result is terminology that holds across every batch, every content type, and every linguist on your account, and you own all of it.
Start with a linguistic foundation
A linguistic foundation has three parts: a glossary, a style guide, and a TM. Together they become your rulebook. Our AI agents translate against it, and the quality gate runs the rules that can be tested reliably as automatic checks. Linguists judge meaning, tone, and anything else that needs judgment. Each client’s rules live in that client’s rulebook only.
How the work runs:
- You send your published content, any past translations, and your brand guidelines.
- Agents extract candidate terms, each with its source.
- A native linguist approves the terms, and then you approve the glossary.
- We draft a style guide from your guidelines and the patterns in your existing content, and a native linguist approves it.
- We align your past translations into a seed TM, and a native linguist spot-checks it.
- You receive the glossary in your format, the style guide, and a Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) file.
Translation glossaries with a source for every term
Every term carries its source: a page you published, a past translation, or your brand guidelines. We look at your own glossary, TM, and published content before anything else. A form seen once is a candidate, not a rule.
A native linguist approves each term first. You approve the initial glossary and every new key term (product, feature, and brand names, and legal or regulated terms). Other new terms are approved by your linguist and added to your glossary, which we share whenever you ask. Decisions you approve stay closed. They reopen only when you ask, or when new evidence appears.
Example (synthetic terms, English to French)
| Term | Target | Source reference | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| workspace | espace de travail | Your French help article on workspaces | Approved |
| sign in | se connecter | Your French app login screen | Approved |
A style guide built from your own content
We draft the style guide from your brand guidelines and the patterns in your existing content: register, forms of address, punctuation, how to handle product names, and what stays untranslated. A native linguist approves it, and its rules go into your rulebook. We turn the rules that can be tested reliably into automatic checks. Linguists judge meaning, tone, and anything else that needs judgment. The quality gate runs those checks on every delivered file.
Translation memory from your past translations
If you have past translations but no TM, we align them with their source texts into a seed TM. A native linguist spot-checks the alignment. From then on, every delivery updates your TM, so approved translations are reused in later batches.
You own the result
The glossary, the style guide, and the TM are yours. We hand the TM over as a TMX file whenever you ask. The glossary comes in your format, such as XLSX or CSV, so you can use it in your own tools.
We sign your NDA before work starts, and we delete your files on request.
Questions about glossaries, style guides, and TM
We have no style guide. Can you build one?
Yes. We draft it from your brand guidelines and your existing content, and a native linguist approves it. Its rules go into your rulebook, and the ones that can be tested reliably become automatic checks.
Who owns the translation memory?
You do. We hand it over as a TMX file whenever you ask.
Can you work with the glossary we already have?
Yes. Your glossary comes first, and every term we add carries a source. You approve every new key term (product, feature, and brand names, and legal or regulated terms). Other new terms are approved by your linguist and added to your glossary, which we share whenever you ask.
Do we have to approve every term?
No. You approve the initial glossary and every new key term (product, feature, and brand names, and legal or regulated terms). Other new terms are approved by your linguist and added to your glossary, which we share whenever you ask. A native linguist approves each term before it reaches you.
Can we use the results with our own tools?
Yes. The glossary comes in your format and the TM as a TMX file.