Glossary of TDN Translation Terms

Accelerator Keys (see also "hot keys")

A keystroke that dispatches a message to a program invoking one of its functions (i.e., alt-F4 in Windows = quit program).

Active Server Pages (ASP)

Active Server Page is a dynamic HTML scheme designed by Microsoft that is a combination of HTML and VBScript which serves to generate HTML on your web server and send it to your browser.

Application Service Provider (ASP)

A business which offers software application capabilities to other business users from a centralized data center via wide area networks.

BIDI

An acronym for bidirectional. Certain languages such as Arabic or Hebrew render their text from right to left except for numbers or embedded Latin text which are written left to right.

C++

A high level programming language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup at AT&T's Bell Labs.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

An external document that determines the layout of tagged file formats such as HTML. A technology that uses embedded information to define colors, fonts and other elements on an HTML page.

CAT

Computer-aided translation.

Character Encoding

The map from a coded character set to a sequence of bits.

Character Set

All the letters, numbers and characters a computer can use. The symbols to represent data. Mapping of characters from a writing system into a set of binary codes. Ex. ANSI and Unicode.

Document Object Model (DOM)

A model that specifies how objects are manipulated through script.

Document Type Definitions (DTD)

A declaration of a document or code type embedded within a SGML, HTML, or XML document, which identifies the version and nature of code used.

Double-Byte (DBCS)

Double-Byte Character Set: A character encoding scheme that uses one or two bytes. Japanese, Chinese and Korean are known as double-byte languages.

DTP

Desktop Publishing.

Dynamic HTML (DHTML)

A combination of HTML, scripts, style sheets and the Document Object Model (DOM) designed to bring animation to the web.

Engineering

Any number of a software code, website code or file format manipulation tasks usually conducted by a software engineer.

Functionality Testing

Conducted after your software or website has been localized, these are tests to verify that your application or site works properly for your target users. Proper platforms, browsers, and test scripts are used to ensure the experience of the target user will be as good as if the application was developed specifically for that market.

Glossary: Client

A list of source terms with their translations or target language equivalents. Clients provide terms specific to their business or field for translation and inclusion in a translation memory.

Glossary: Operating System

Any number of existing software operating system glossaries that are publicly available and contain the English and translation of key terminology. Microsoft has their own glossaries for example.

Glyph

The actual shape of a character.

Hangul

The name for the Korean writing system.

Hiragana

One of two Japanese syllabic scripts typically used for native Japanese words and grammar particles.

Hot Keys

The underlined letter or number in a menu command or dialog box option which can be pressed in combination with the Alt key to activate a command or option.

HTML

Hyper Text Mark-Up Language: A subset of SGML, defining a set of tags used mainly for display of pages on the web.

Input Method Editor (IME)

A program which provides a conversion of keystrokes to characters.

Internationalization (I18N)

Abbreviated I18N, it is defined as the process of developing a program core whose feature design and code do not make assumptions based on a single language or locale and whose source base simplifies the creation of different language editions of a program.

Internationalization Testing

Testing the English product or website for international support and localizability.

Java

A programming language from Sun MicroSystems designed primarily for writing software to live on the web, or download to computers. A powerful programming language that allows you to "write once, and run anywhere", as Sun puts it.

Kana

The name for the two Japanese syllabic scripts (Hiragana and Katakana).

Kanji

The Japanese name for the ideographic characters used in their language.

Katakana

One of two Japanese syllabic scripts typically used to spell foreign words.

Locale

A combination of language, geography and culture which helps define required functionality or format rules for software.

Localization (L10N)

Abbreviated L10N, it is defined as the process of adapting a program for a specific international market, which includes translating the user interface, resizing dialog boxes, customizing features and testing results to ensure that the program still works.

Localization Kit

A subset of tools, source files, binary files, test scripts, and appropriate instructions that can be used to create a localized edition of a program.

Localization Testing

Conducted after your software or website has been localized, these tests are to check for any cosmetic and linguistic issues.

Machine Translation

A methodology and technology used to automate language translations from one human language to another, using terminology glossaries and advanced grammatical, syntactic analysis techniques.

SGML

Standard Generalized Mark-Up Language: An international standard for information exchange that prescribes a standard format for using descriptive markup within a document, defining three document layers: structure, content and style.

Simplified Chinese

Set of Chinese characters used mainly in People's Republic of China.

TARGET Globalization Launch Services^SM: (TARGET GLS)

An offering from GPI which includes a wide range of consulting and services designed to assist small and medium sized companies who are trying to reach global markets.

TMX

An open standard, based on XML, which has been designed by a group of tool developers to simplify and automate the process of converting translation memories from one format to another.

Traditional Chinese

Set of Chinese characters used mainly in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Translation

The process of rendering a source language(s) into a target language(s).

Translation Memory Tool

A database which stores translated segments and includes other functionality to facilitate translation re-use and terminology management.

Unicode

A fixed width 16-bit character encoding system used to encode all the characters of all the world's languages.

UTF-8

Unicode Transformation Format eight-bit encoding.

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

A markup language that describes document content in intelligent terms.

eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)

A style language that provides formatting instructions for XML documents.