Terminology management plays a crucial role in image translation in DITA. It involves maintaining consistency in the translation of terms and labels within images, ensuring that the translated content aligns with the organization’s preferred terminology. This consistency enhances the overall quality and clarity of the translated images, facilitating user comprehension.

Terminology Management Strategies

Terminology management in image translation involves glossaries and dictionaries, contextual understanding, and quality assurance.

• Glossaries and Dictionaries: Organizations maintain glossaries or terminology databases that house approved translations of terms and labels used within images. This centralized resource ensures that translators adhere to the preferred terminology consistently.
• Contextual Understanding: Translators need to understand the context of images to provide accurate translations. Detailed instructions, context notes, or references within DITA content are used to clarify the context in which specific terms appear within images.
• Quality Assurance: After translating the text within images, a quality assurance process is applied to verify that the chosen terminology is accurate and consistent with the organization’s standards. Any discrepancies are corrected to ensure a high level of quality.

Example

A global software company uses DITA for its product documentation. The user interface of the software includes buttons with labels like “Save,” “Close,” and “Print.” The company maintains a terminology glossary with approved translations for these labels.

When translating images in DITA, the glossary guides translators to use consistent terminology. For example, if the glossary specifies that “Save” should be translated as “Enregistrer” in French, all images featuring this label will use “Enregistrer.” This consistent approach enhances user comprehension, as users encountering “Enregistrer” in one image and “Sauvegarder” in another would find the documentation confusing. Terminology management ensures a unified and clear user experience across all translated images.