Terminology database (termbase)

A termbase is a small, ruled dictionary that sits beside your translations. Each entry names a source term, says what it means, marks its part of speech, and rules on how it should be rendered per locale. That ruling is richer than one word: a term can carry a preferred translation, admitted alternatives, prohibited renderings, and inflected forms, which is what heavily inflected languages need. Some entries are flagged do not translate instead, but DNT is a policy call that follows your brand and legal guidance, not something a term inherits automatically for being a product name or a plan tier. Recurring UI verbs (Save, Publish, Share, Workspace) go in with an approved target so they do not drift.

You want one the moment more than one person has ever translated your product, because five translators over three years will render 'Workspace' five different ways and your German UI will read like five different products. Every TMS ships a glossary panel that surfaces matches inline while translating and fails a QA check when a translation ignores one. The interchange format is TBX, and the old desktop anchor is SDL MultiTerm.

Gotcha: teams over-lock. Marking every noun DNT leaves your French copy stuffed with English and reading like a machine wrote it. Lock what is trademarked, what appears in contracts, and what users type into a support ticket. Let the rest be translated. Second gotcha: an entry without part of speech and a definition is barely useful, since 'share' the verb and 'share' the noun need different rulings.