Any translator who has ever done any translation work for a software company may be familiar with that frustrating feeling of trying to translate a term that he or she does not fully understand. What’s more, the translator thinks she or he has seen another term that may be a synonym, but the software company contact can’t provide any definitive information about this term, either. Don’t these software companies understand how important it is to document and manage terminology systematically? Despite the increasing imperative for terminology management in government agencies and global businesses in general, current practices suggest that source-language terminology management remains a rare occurrence in the software industry. This article focuses on source language terminology management at software companies: after defining source terminology, it analyses the reasons why many companies don’t do it, describes the benefits of managing source-language terminology, and offers some recommendations for making a business case in favour of source-language terminology management.