This is a helpful list of translation related terminology

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HAT Help Authoring Tool
A program to assist the creation of help files. Robohelp, Doc-to-Help, ForeHelp, HDK, and HelpBreeze are examples of HATs. See WinHelp.

Hinting
Defines how a font will be rendered in low and medium resolution devices. Since the resolution of computer monitors are very low, which generally range between 72 and 120 DPI, fonts cannot be always displayed correctly. Hinting adds additional information to the outline information stored in a font file, which is used to render a font as close as possible to the intended shape.

HTML
Stands for HyperText Markup Language. A simple markup language used to create web pages. Uses tags rather than commands, that is there are no variables, functions, loops, etc. one would expect to find in a programming language. Tags are used to mark up blocks of text, which will be interpreted by web browsers. For instance, to display a text block bold, just add to the beginning and to the end.

HTML Help
The Microsoft replacement for Winhelp.

Human Translator
Human translators are native speakers who physically translate the text themselves which results in a 100% accurate translation vs the 70% accurate translation that you get from machine translation.

I18N
see Internationalisation

Image Map
A map that defines different areas of an image as hyperlinks. Rather than slicing an image into smaller parts, one can define rectangular, circular or polygonal areas on an image when clicked will send the user to the associated hyperlinks.

Imposition
The plan and arrangement of pages on a printed press sheet, so that when folded and/or trimmed, they will be in the correct order.

Inbound text
Text intended for internal use, generally not seen by people outside the originating organisation. Includes internal correspondence, memos, work instructions, etc.

Index File
An index file is used by a search engine to locate specific web pages in a web site. The structure of an index file is similar in concept to the index of a book where keywords are referenced to their occurrence on pages. The performance of a search engine is heavily influenced by the quality of the algorithm used to produce the index. Writing a good quality indexing algorithm may seem trivial but in practice it isn't.

Internationalisation
The process of ensuring at a technical/design level that a product can be easily localized. Internationalization is thus part of globalization.

Interpretation
While a translator works with the written word alone and has a single target language, i.e. his or her mother tongue, an interpreter works only orally, and usually "live", translating in both directions. In fact, the professions of a translator and an interpreter are very different.

Interpreter
Provides oral (spoken) translation of a speaker's words from one language into another. (cf. translator)

Java
A robust, object-oriented, platform-independent programming language developed by Sun. Java programs run on a device-independent virtual machine, therefore there is no need to port a Java program to different platforms. The virtual machine concept also eliminates security problems because it isolates Java programs from the real machine (or the computer they are running on). Java is modeled after C++, but it does not support pointers because they are not only crash-prone and hard-to-use but also pose security problems.

JavaScript
A simple, client-side scripting language developed by Netscape, which is closely bound to HTML code. Scripts written in JavaScript can add more interactivity to user experience. Classic examples include rollover effects, validation of the information entered in form fields, creating pop-up windows, and hierarchical menus (the last two also require DHTML).

JPEG
Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. Frequently used to refer to the JPEG graphics file format, which uses a lossy image compression algorithm to reduce file sizes dramatically. Artifacts may occur on compressed images due to the fractal based algorithm.

JSP Java Server Page
Java code embedded in web pages. Similar in concept to active server pages (ASP).

Justification
The alignment of text on a page. Most text is written left aligned (right ragged). Fully justified text looks neater is harder to read.

Kerning
The amount of spacing between adjacent characters of a font. Not all characters have equal width, so space that should be left between different character pairs must be defined (e.g. Av). Although many font editors such as FontLab and Macromedia Fontographer allow auto-kerning, for best results manual kerning is usually necessary.

Keystroke
Often used as a measure of line or page length in defining the size of a translation job. Includes all visible characters as well as spaces and line breaks/paragraph marks. (See also standard line and standard page.)

L10N
see Localisation

Language of habitual use
The language that a person is most familiar with, usually the language spoken in the country in which the person lives. Considered by some to be more appropriate than mother-tongue ( Muttersprache) as a measure of a translator or interpreter's ability to translate into the given language. In German usage, this distinction between mother-tongue and dominant language is not generally made.

Leading
The amount of space between lines of text within the same paragraph. Typically 10 pt text is set with an additional 2 pts of leading to prevent the descenders of one line from touching the ascenders in the line below. This is referred to as "10 on 12" (10 pts type in 12 pts of vertical space), or 10/12.

Legal translation
This type of translation represents a particular problem and a highly specialised field since the concepts within the various legal systems are not identical, and may not have equivalents in their counterparts.

Leverage
This is the process that takes elements from previous product translations and automatically incorporates these into new revisions.

Liaison interpreter
Interpreter who provides - usually consecutive - interpretation between two languages in both directions. May be affiliated to the host company and act as facilitator in negotiations or undertake some PR activities.

Linguistic data processing
Study and processing of natural languages via information technology, also called "computational linguistics". This discipline is closely linked to the creation of translation software, spelling or grammar correction tools, plus indexing procedures that permit searching on the Internet.

Linux
Don't..don't believe the hype. No, it's not a floor polish, a desert toping or a cure for cancer, it's just another Unix like operation system.

From a technical writers point of view, Linux still suffers from a lack of professional quality authoring tools which hinders its use as a primary authoring platform.

Literal translation
Translation that closely adheres to the wording and construction of the source text. A literal translation usually appears "stilted" and unnatural and is therefore to be avoided unless there is a specific reason for translating literally. (cf. free translation)

Literary translator
Translator specialising in the translation of literature, such as fiction, biographies and poetry.

Locale
A set of attributes specific to a language and geographical region, e.g.date format, currency format etc. An example of a locale is: English (U.S.).

Localisation
The global adaptation of a product (software, web site) to bring it in line with a market that uses another language. The localisation of software, for example, implies not only the translation of all the technical (manual, online help, etc.) and advertising documentation, but also the adaptation of the various screens, keyboard shortcuts, images and text areas, and not forgetting the indexing which must be completely recreated in the target language.

Loss-less
In the context of image compression, this refers to being able to compress an image and then decompress it to give a byte for byte replica of the original. GIF and PNG images use loss-less compression.

Lossy
In the context of image compression, this refers to the loss of data when compressing an image. Uncompressing the image will not give a replica of the original. JPG images use lossy compression.

Machine Translation
Machine translation (MT) is the automatic translation of human language by computers. For instance, an English --> German MT system translates English (the source language) into German (the target language). With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, and ever-expanding international communication and commerce, there is an increasing need for quick and inexpensive translation. New Web pages are created daily in tremendous numbers, and many Web page authors would like their material to be readable immediately all around the globe. Likewise, there is need for fast e-mail communication between speakers of different languages. It is difficult to keep up with the volume via human translation alone.

Machine translation has been under development in universities and industry for several years -- essentially since the advent of programmable computers. MT is a difficult problem, mainly because human language is so ambiguous and so full of special constructions and exceptions to rules. In some cases it is impossible to arrive at a correct translation without using everyday knowledge of the world and reasoning ability that only humans have.

Macro
A sequence of pre-determined commands used to automate repetitive tasks. For instance, if you frequently use a function hidden deep inside the pull-down menu hierarchy of a program that supports keystroke macros, the only thing you should do is recording the necessary keystrokes, and assigning a shortcut key to play your macro. Some software applications such as Microsoft Office uses programming languages (in this case Visual Basic) to write advanced macros that go beyond simple keystroke recording.

Mark-up Minimisation
A convention for omitting certain tags or parts of tags. For example in HTML it is common practice to omit the closing

tag from a

pair of tags.

Note: XML does not allow markup minimisation.

Metadata
Information about the data in a document. For example, the name of the author.

Middleware
A software layer that facilitates the communication between other applications. ODBC is an example of middleware.

MIF Maker Interchange Format
A text based proprietary non SGML mark-up language used by FrameMaker to create documents. A MIF file represents the objects in a FrameMaker document as a series of nested tags.

Mother-tongue
One's native language. Often used as an indicator of a translator or interpreter's ability to translate into a particular language. Because a person who has lived in another country for many years (perhaps from childhood) may be more fluent in their second language than they are in their first (i.e. their mother-tongue), the term "language of habitual use" or "dominant language " is often preferred.

MultiTerm
Terminology program published by Trados. A component of the translator's Workbench translation memory program, but also available as a separate product.

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