Terminology Management System and Technology-Driven Solutions

In early June CSOFT International released a new terminology management system designed to help both website hosts and viewers to accurately and efficiently express and understand terms online. Providing instantaneous access to TermWiki’s massive and ever-growing database, TermWiki Widget has answered the prayers of one avid terminologist and TermWiki user in particular. Below, Maria Pia Montoro shares with us her views on online terminology management and collaboration, and just how TermWiki Widget has made it all easier.

Maria Pia Montoro was born in Rome, Italy. Maria has earned a degree in Modern Literatures, a Master’s in Journalistic Translation and a certification in using Terminology Management System. She currently works as a web content editor for the European Commission website Together against Trafficking in Human Beings. Previously she spent six months at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament as a terminologist.

Her enthusiastic passion for using terminology management systems is noticeable in her work as a web cosmonaut exploring neologisms, buzzwords, terminology, linguistics and more. All her discoveries and musings can be found on her blog WordLo.

How do you mainly use TermWiki?

Maria: Recently, I have been using TermWiki to create glossaries and share my terminology management system tips. I like being able to receive comments from people who collaborated with me. I also wanted to have my glossary visible on my blog to share, and as I said in my email, there was previously no easy way for me to do this. That’s why I asked TermWiki, which at the time seemed like the only platform that could provide me with a solution. Turns out you guys were already in the process of creating such a tool! I think this is really what the world needs: to improve the sharing of terminology.

It’s funny that you sent the email when you did because, as you said, we were actually in the process of creating the TermWiki Widget at the time, and your email just encouraged us to work harder because we could see that there was a demand for this widget.

Maria: Yes, it’s what I really need—what we all need. I’ve been monitoring terminology blogs, websites and institutions that deal with terminology, and we all have the same problem—how can we better share terminology? It’s very complicated but important because sharing improves terminology, makes it more uniform, and makes it complete and correct. I remember coming across online statistics that said a large percentage of translators are willing to share their terminology, but we don’t have the technology to do so. We have to deal with .tbx and .xml files; it’s not easy. I think that the social approach that TermWiki incorporates is a good idea to improve the sharing of terminology.

How do you mainly use the TermWiki Widget?

Maria: I use the widget on my blog WordLo, which comes from ‘Word Lover’. It’s a blog about terminology. In my previous job, I was reading a lot of newspapers and monitoring media. As a result, I came across very strange words, neologisms, buzzwords, jargon, etc. every day. I found these to be really funny so I uploaded them to my blog. I consider WordLo to be a blog about terminology, neologisms and buzzwords, as well as a resource for finding interesting tools to better manage terminology.

What is it about TermWiki that makes you continue to use it?

Maria: I like being able to create a network with people and use a platform like TermWiki to collaborate with others. I think that this is the way forward with regard to improving terminology collaboration, because terminology is ultimately the result of a group of people working together. When I create terminology, I have to consult experts, and there are always so many experts that I need to use a common platform for all their ideas and suggestions. TermWiki allows me to do this efficiently. Imagine having a source like TermWiki where you can post a question and have people freely collaborate with you to provide answers. This is the big thing that translators want. This is exactly what we need. Translators are always working under a deadline, so what we want is to be able to post a question or a term, and immediately have a definition, context and good information with it.

What is your most used feature or favorite aspect of TermWiki?

Maria: I like how easily I can improve definitions that I come across, and how I can connect to somebody and ask them to improve my definition. I like that other people can access my network and we can all collaborate and improve each other’s contributions easily. I also like the machine translation feature—it provides a quick basis for your translation before you correct it and make it sound more natural. It also acts as a good starting point for creating wide term bases in other languages. And I really like the TermWiki Widget! I want to use it in order to see how much I can do with it! It’s not only important as a glossary, but also for search engine optimization because it makes my website more visible to search engines. I really want to see how many things I can do with this widget!

Where do you see TermWiki going in the future?

Maria: My suggestion is to gather as many users as possible. I think in the future there will be a lot more people using TermWiki, thanks to the attention that you give to feedback and the user’s needs. I think that it will make TermWiki even more important and used by more and more people. Customer care is one of the biggest parts of TermWiki, other than the social side of the website. The collaboration, the social environment and the great customer care that you give will make TermWiki even bigger.

That’s great. We’re going to keep working hard on our end and we hope to help you guys stay passionate about TermWiki, terminology and networking.

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