Build a Glossary and Keep Terms Consistent
The same idea called three different names confuses readers and machines alike. A simple glossary is the cheapest quality tool a project has.
Why consistency beats elegance
In ordinary writing, varying your words is a virtue. In instructions, interfaces and documentation it is a fault: if a button is called “Submit” in one place, “Send” in another and “Confirm” in a third, readers cannot be sure they are the same thing. Agreeing on terms, the practice of terminology management, removes that doubt.
What a glossary records
- The agreed term for each key concept, and its definition.
- Terms not to use, with the preferred one instead.
- For each language, the approved translation.
- Names of products and features in their fixed form.
Agree the words people argue about
The terms worth pinning down first are the ones that cause arguments: the feature everyone names differently, the action a button performs, the word a product uses that the wider field does not. Writing the agreed choice down, with a line on why, settles the question once rather than every time it recurs. It also gives new writers and translators a place to look before they improvise, which is where most quiet inconsistency begins.
It helps machines too
Translation tools and search both work better with consistent input. A term used the same way every time is translated the same way every time, and is easier to find later. Inconsistent source text multiplies into inconsistent output across every language you add.
Keeping it alive
- Start small: ten to twenty terms that appear everywhere.
- Add a term the moment a disagreement about wording arises.
- Give one person the final say, so the list does not fork.
- Review it when the product changes, and retire dead terms.
Guard against quiet drift
Terms slip over time as new people join and new features arrive, so a glossary needs tending, not just writing. Add an entry the moment two people disagree about a word, retire entries for features that no longer exist, and keep one owner with the final say so the list does not quietly fork into rival versions. A short list that is actually maintained beats a long one nobody trusts, and it saves its keep the first time a translator does not have to guess.
A note on borrowed words
Some terms are best left untranslated because the local field uses the original. The glossary is where you record that decision, so it is made once and on purpose rather than differently by each writer. A short, maintained list of this kind quietly prevents a surprising share of confusion, in one language or ten.
Revised 2026-11-10