Terminology and localization

New industries, like the information technology industry, depend on the creation of new terminology to communicate the new concepts and products developed. In the case of building software products, terminology is particularly important because the terms are operational components of the product itself. Therefore, effective and diligent terminology management is critical to the development and use of software products.In our globalized world of today, products as well as services are no longer marketed in only one region or country. International and national regulations require product specifications, manuals and documentation to be provided in the language of the customer. In particular software such as programs, phone apps or computer games are globally marketed in almost all regions of the world. This is the reason why the market for software translation, i.e. for software localization, is the fastest growing market in the translation business. Multilingual terminology plays a crucial role in that field.Although the concept of localization can be applied to all kinds of products and services, this chapter will concentrate on localization of software and on terminology of software products.