Assessing Terminology Management Systems for Interpreters

Abstract

This chapter describes and compares current Terminology Management Systems (tms) with a view to establishing a set of features in order to assess the extent to which terminology tools meet the specific needs of interpreters. As in translation, domain-specific terminology becomes a cornerstone in interpreting when consistency and accuracy are at stake. Therefore, an efficient use and management of terminology will enhance interpreting results. As a matter of fact, interpreters have limited time to prepare for new topics and they have to carry out searches and preparation prior to an interpretation and have it accessible during the interpreting service. Fortunately, there are an ever-growing number of applications capable of assisting interpreters before and during an interpretation service, even though they are still few compared to those devoted to translators. Although these tools appear to be quite similar, they provide different kinds of features, which result in different degrees of usefulness, as it can be observed in the last section of this paper.