Terminology

In its document TRANSLATION OF ONLINE CONTENT the EU gives specific instructions of how to deal with a translation that is intended to be published online. In this unit you will learn about issues of online content translation and you will apply them on an assigned translation. This chapter is focused on terminology.

TRANSLATION OF ONLINE CONTENT


For Web or Not for Web


Before you start translating make sure you know whether the final product will be published on paper or online. The name and code of the document might help you.

Terminology


The same rules apply here as to any other Commission documents – the translation needs to be consistent with the EU acquis.
 
However, many of the texts published online are not legally binding and therefore might allow for a greater freedom of style. The segments don't need to match 1:1 – when you need to play with the word order or split sentences for example.
 
Use Microsoft terminology while translating labels for software controls unless Commission reference material and memories suggest otherwise. Even localization of strings for a software interface might involve references to legislation.

 

After you translated the text yourself, you can look at the official translation of the same text, which is placed in the Key section of this chapter.
Ikona iDevice Now you know
  • that you must use the EU terminology when translating the online content
  • there is more freedom in terms of style of the translation
  • when translating software controls, Microsoft terminology is to be used