How Terminology Impacts SEO, MT and Social Media

术语是如何影响搜索引擎优化,机器翻译和社交媒体的

2020-11-24 08:40 RWS Moravia Insights

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Terminology is at the heart of any corporate communication strategy. Whether you’re communicating with your colleagues, business partners or customers, your terminology strategy is of paramount importance. It’s how you make sure all communications are clear and consistent and that people are using the same terms for the same concepts or products. It’s also how you assure that customers have precise information about your offerings. Yet, for varying reasons, terminology is often overlooked or taken for granted, and when businesses start going global, they realize that accurate, branded and consistent terminology is something that they should’ve given a lot more consideration to. In episode 108 of Globally Speaking Radio, we meet the renowned terminology expert Klaus Fleischmann. Not only does he lecture on terminology at universities in his native Austria, but he sits on the board of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), is the CEO of Eurocom Translation Services and is the founder and CEO of Kaleidoscope. It’s pretty obvious Fleischmann knows a thing or two (thousand) about how to use terminology to your advantage in localization, machine translation (MT), artificial intelligence (AI) and search engine optimization (SEO). Before we talk about the way terminology management impacts all of the above, let’s review what terminology is and why you create a glossary in the first place. What do we mean by “terminology”? Terminology, in general terms, is the words we use to communicate and the way we use them. In localization it takes on a bit of a different meaning and refers to industry- or product-specific terms related to your company, confusing or complex terms, technical terms or terms specific to your target audience. In this context, it’s critically important that your terminology is clear and consistent as you translate your message into new languages. Fleischmann says, “terminology really is the foundation for high-quality, clear, concise and correct communication.” Formalizing terminology for your business: creating a glossary To give terminology some context, we have to understand what a glossary is. Essentially, this is where you keep track of your terms as well as the rules surrounding them and their use. Glossaries outline which terms can be used, which are forbidden and in what contexts they can be used. This can be as simple as a spreadsheet or as immersive as a bespoke database. There are several important reasons why an enterprise would create a glossary; mainly: Its content is clear and concise; there is no risk of confusion from imprecise terms. Content can be created more quickly and get to market faster. Research time is reduced by including consistent definitions and metadata. All products and materials have agreed, consistent language. Brand is strengthened globally with clearer messaging. Legal and security issues from inconsistent or unintended language can be avoided. In addition to the core goal of creating clear, consistent communication, there are other applications of glossaries you may not have thought of. Optimizing your terminology for SEO SEO turns terminology management on its head, changing the approach from a one-to-one correspondence between a concept and a term to a one-to-many correspondence. After all, search queries can vary vastly. In SEO, search terms are the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines, also called "search queries." The trick here is that in some cases there are many different things users can type in; for example, apartment, rental, condo and place for rent all are terms for the same concept. You can use the same principles for term-mining or term selection, but you have to reverse your thinking. Fleischmann explains: “In terminology work, you want to make sure you only use one term, and it goes as far as saying if it’s very, very company-specific, then we need to have the preferred term and only that preferred term. SEO is exactly the other way around. You want to find out what the most generic terms are for this. What is it that people are searching for? And then you basically group those words. So, the method is the same; the goal is exactly the opposite. The goal is trying to find as many generic terms as possible that people out there might be using…and intentionally use those words.” By determining the group of keywords that will give your business the best chance of attracting attention or driving customers to your website, you can use your terminology to refine your approach. For example, you can compare search queries (a series of terms or keywords in SEO-speak) and see how many people are drawn to your page if you use one versus the other. How long do they stay? What do they read? What triggers them to leave the page? #terminology4socialmedia The application of terminology in social media is different from SEO and more like the use of terminology in corporate materials: there is one primary term for each concept and you need to use that term and only that term. Fleischmann points out, “managing hashtags is more classic…because if you want to push your own hashtag, you need to be consistent…this consistency is what SEO is not about.” A hashtag is a term: “If you look at something like Twitter, they actually don’t talk about keywords. They actually talk about hashtags, which really is the same thing,” says Fleischmann. Like with SEO, you can also use hashtags (terms) as analytical tools to fine-tune your marketing behaviour. With social, you can adjust a hashtag and see its impact on how many views your posts get, how long people stay on them and how people share them. Why terminology matters to your AI program If AI is all about data and the quality of the data that goes into the machine, then surely terminology is part of the bedrock of that data. According to Fleischmann, “If MT or a little broader use of AI is on your roadmap…then investing in terminology is definitely a good idea.” Fleischmann says MT uses terminology in an overt way because those terms are not just driving the engine, but the output, too. “Terminology’s not just in the background trying to explain concepts to the machine or to the learning engine, where it basically stays under the hood, but in MT it actually pops up because text is output.” He adds that MT providers are currently doing a lot of research into how they can put terminology into an engine to make it automatically adjust the output. But training an engine in this way is tricky because engines can’t problem solve like humans can. So, choice isn’t a good thing when it comes to MT. Fleischmann explains: “Very simply, don’t confuse the engine. For a human translator it can be very beneficial to offer choices; to say, ‘Well, if you’re currently in this sort of text, this is the word you want to use, and if you’re in that sort of text, never use that term,’ for example. You don’t want to do that to an MT engine.” So, work remains in this area, but terminology is one of the pillars of a successful MT program. Terminology consciousness You’re managing your terminology whether you’re aware of it or not, possibly via style guides and notes from engineers and product specifications. But if your competitor is more conscious about their use of terminology, then chances are they’re better geared up for success. In Fleischmann’s view: “Just like they say, ‘You cannot not communicate,’ I always like to say, ‘You cannot not have terminology.’” Whether you are starting up your terminology program or tweaking the one you already have in place, it’s time to think about how terms impact SEO, social media and AI. Terminology efforts take time and money, but the benefits to your corporate, social and customer-facing content make the effort well worth it. With contemporary relevance in these digital and technological areas, the perception of terminology within business is going through a seismic shift from being a cost centre to a revenue generator. Tune in to Globally Speaking's 108th episode to hear the entire discussion with Klaus Fleischmann and subscribe to be notified of future episodes.
术语是任何公司沟通策略的核心。无论您是与同事,商业伙伴还是客户交流,您的术语策略都是至关重要的。术语可以确保所有的沟通都是清晰一致的,也可以确保人们对相同的概念或产品使用相同的术语。术语也可以确保客户对你的产品有着清晰准确的理解。 然而,由于各种原因,术语常常被忽视或被视为理所当然的事情。当企业开始走向海外时,他们才意识到保持术语的准确性,品牌性和一致性是他们本应该认真考虑的事情。 在《环球广播》(Globally Speaking Radio)第108集中,我们将会邀请著名的术语专家克劳斯·弗莱希曼(Klaus Fleischmann)。他不仅在他的祖国奥地利的大学讲授术语课程,而且是全球化和本地化协会(GALA)的董事会成员,也是欧洲通信翻译服务公司(Eurocom Translation Services )的首席执行官,还是万花筒公司(Kaleidoscope)的创始人和首席执行官。由此可见,弗莱希曼对如何在本地化,机器翻译(MT),人工智能(AI)和搜索引擎优化(SEO)中利用术的优势语有一定了解的。 在我们讨论术语管理是如何影响上述内容之前,让我们先回顾一下什么是术语以及为什么首先要创建术语表。 我们所说的“术语”是什么意思? 笼统地说,术语就是我们用来交流的词语和我们使用它们的方式。但是在本地化领域,“术语”的意思有些不同,它指的是与您的公司相关的行业或产品的特定术语、易混淆或复杂的术语、技术术语或针对于特定的目标受众的术语。因此,在本地化行业,当你把源语信息翻译成新的目标语言时,术语的翻译一定要保持清晰并且和原文一致。Fleischmann说:“术语确实是高质量、清晰、简洁和正确交流的基础。” 为您的业务提供正式的术语:创建术语表 为了给术语一些语境,我们必须了解什么是术语表。从本质上说,您可以在这术语表里查询术语及其使用规则。术语表规定了哪些术语可以使用,哪些是禁止使用的,以及它们使用的语境。术语表可以像电子表格一样简单,也可以像定制数据库一样复杂。 企业创建术语表有几个重要原因;主要是: 术语表内容清晰,简洁;不存在因术语不准确而引起混淆的风险。 可以更快地创建内容,更快地进入市场。 术语表包含统一的定义和元数据,减少了研发时间。 所有产品和材料都有统一的语言。 通过更清晰的信息传达,品牌效应在全球范围内得到提高。 可以避免因语言不一致或错误理解而产生的法律和安全问题。 除了为了保证清晰、一致的沟通这个核心目标外,还有一些您可能没有想到的术语表的其他应用。 优化搜索引擎术语 搜索引擎优化彻底改变了术语管理,将概念和术语之间的一一对应关系转变为一对多对应关系。毕竟,搜索查询可能变化很大。在搜索引擎优化中,搜索术语是搜索者输入到搜索引擎中的单词和短语,也称为“搜索查询”。这里需要注意的是,在某些情况下,用户可以键入许多不同的内容;例如,公寓,出租屋,共管公寓都是同一概念的术语。 您可以使用相同的原则进行术语挖掘或术语提取,但您必须使用反向思维。 Fleischmann解释说:“在术语工作中,你要确保只使用一个术语,但在一些特殊情况下,有多个符合标准的术语的话,那么我们需要有选择最符合标准的术语,而且只使用这一个。搜索引擎优化正好相反。您希望找出最通用的术语是什么。人们在搜索什么?然后你基本上把这些词分组。所以,方法是一样的;但目标正好相反。搜索引擎优化的目标是尽可能多地找到人们可能使用的通用术语……并有意使用这些词汇,“ 通过确定一组关键词,这些关键词将极大的吸引吸引客户的注意力或促使客户访问你的网站,你可以使用你的术语来完善这种方法。 例如,您可以比较搜索查询(SEO-speak中的一系列术语或关键字),即分别输入两个不同的关键词进行搜索,然后分别对比两次搜索结果的访问人数、访问时间、访问内容以及离开网页的原因。 #Terminology4SocialMedia 社交媒体中术语的应用不同于搜索引擎优化,更像是公司物料中术语的使用:每个概念都有一个主要术语,而且你只能使用那个术语。 Fleischmann指出,“管理话题标签是更经典的…因为如果你想推送你自己的话题标签,你需要保持一致性…这种一致性是搜索引擎优化所不涉及的。” 话题标签是一个术语:“如果你看看推特(Twitter)之类的东西,它们实际上并不谈论关键词。他们实际上谈论的是话题标签,这其实是一回事,“Fleischmann说。 与搜索引擎优化一样,您也可以使用话题标签(术语)作为分析工具来略微调整您的营销行为。在网络社会中,你可以调整一个话题标签并观察它对你的帖子浏览量,人们停留时长以及人们如何分享它们等多方面的影响。 为什么术语对人工智能程序很重要 如果人工智能是关于数据和机器的数据质量的话,那么术语无疑是这些数据的一部分基石。Fleischmann认为,“如果未来机器翻译或者更广泛一点的人工智能可以应用在你的产品上……那么投资术语绝对是个好主意。” Fleischmann说,机器翻译以一种公开的方式使用术语,因为这些术语不仅仅是用来输入到引擎中,也需要从引擎中输出。“术语不仅仅是在后台试图向机器或学习引擎解释概念,它们基本上停留在幕后,但在机器翻译中,术语实际上是会输出的,因为文本是输出的。” 他补充说,机器翻译提供商目前正在进行大量研究,研究如何将术语放入引擎中,使其自动调整输出结果。但是用这种方法训练引擎是很困难的,因为引擎不能像人类一样解决问题。所以,当涉及到机器翻译时,选择不是一件好事。Fleischmann解释说:“很简单,不要使引擎疑惑。对于人类译者来说,提供选择是非常有益的;因为人类译者可以根据不同的语境选择不同的用词。但是机器翻译引擎还做不到这样。“ 因此,这方面的工作仍然存在,但术语是一个成功的机器翻译项目的基础之一。 术语意识 不管你是否意识到,你都在管理你的术语,可能是通过风格指南,工程师的注释和产品规范。但是如果你的竞争对手比你更加注意他们的术语使用,那么他们就有可能比你会更成功。 在弗莱希曼看来:“就像他们说的‘你不能不交流’一样,我总是喜欢说‘你不能没有术语。’” 不管你是刚开始你的术语项目还是调整你已经有的一个术语项目,现在是时候考虑术语如何影响搜索引擎优化,社交媒体和人工智能了。术语管理方面的努力需要时间和金钱,但是对您的企业,社会和客户的好处使得这种努力是有回报的。 由于这些数字领域和技术领域的当代相关性,企业内部对术语的认知正在经历从成本中心到创收增收的巨大转变。 请收看《环球播报》第108集,收听与克劳斯·弗莱施曼的整个讨论,并订阅有关未来节目的通知。

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

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