How to Build a Localization Glossary (Template + 5 Steps)

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A localization glossary (also called a termbase) is a list of the key terms in your content with the approved translation for each target language, plus the terms that must never be translated. Building one takes five steps: extract candidate terms from your content, decide which ones stay in the source language, write a definition and context for each, get approved translations from native reviewers, and load the glossary into whatever tool translates your content. Most websites can start with 50 to 200 well-chosen terms.

Key takeaways

• A glossary fixes terminology decisions once, so every translator, reviewer and machine translation engine uses the same words.
• Include brand and product names, feature names, industry terms, recurring UI labels and any term with legal or safety weight. Ordinary vocabulary stays out.
• Each entry needs more than a word pair: part of speech, a short definition, an example in context, a “do not translate” flag where needed, and notes.
• Build it before you translate. Fixing inconsistent terms across a site that is already translated takes far more work.
• Store it in a format your tools can import (a spreadsheet exported as CSV, or TBX for dedicated terminology tools) and review it at least quarterly.

What is a localization glossary?

A glossary is a controlled list of terminology. For each source term it records how that term must appear in each target language and why. Three other resources get confused with it:

• A style guide covers tone, formality, punctuation and formatting rules. You need both: the glossary settles which words to use, and the style guide settles how the text should sound.
• A translation memory stores whole translated sentences for reuse. It grows automatically as you translate, while a glossary is curated on purpose. See what translation memory is.
• A dictionary lists all meanings of a word. A glossary lists only the meaning that applies to your business.

Why build one

• Without a glossary, the same feature name can be translated three different ways on three pages, and customers assume they are three different things.
• Product and brand names should usually stay in the original language. A glossary tells every translator and every engine to leave them alone.
• Machine translation is fluent but has no idea that your “Workspace” is a product name or that “Plan” means a pricing tier. Glossary rules correct that before a human reviewer ever sees the text.
• Reviews go faster, because reviewers stop debating terms page by page and can focus on meaning and tone.
• You can fix the terms customers search for in each market in the glossary, so they show up consistently in pages and metadata.

What to include (and what to leave out)

Include:

• Brand name, product names, plan names and feature names.
• Industry and technical terms specific to your field.
• Recurring interface labels: “Dashboard”, “Checkout”, “Sign in”, “Add to cart”.
• Terms with legal, medical or safety meaning, where a wrong word causes real harm.
• Words that are ambiguous in your content (“Book” as a noun vs. a verb, “Order”, “Plan”).
• Acronyms, with a decision on whether to expand, translate or keep them.
• Search keywords you have researched for each market.

Leave out:

• Everyday vocabulary that any translator or engine handles correctly.
• Full sentences (those belong in translation memory).
• Terms that appear once and never again.

The glossary template

A spreadsheet is enough. Use one row per term and one column per language:

The translations above are illustrations of structure; your reviewers should approve the real ones for your content.

Useful optional columns: status (proposed / approved / deprecated), approver and date, forbidden alternatives, and the URL of a page where the term is used in context.

How to build a glossary in 5 steps

Step 1: Extract candidate terms

Go through your highest-traffic pages, product UI, pricing page, help center and ads. Pull out anything that is a name, is specific to your business, or repeats often. A word-frequency count over your site text, or an export of your CMS content, quickly shows the words you use most. Aim for a first list of 100 to 300 candidates, then cut.

Step 2: Decide what stays untranslated

For each candidate, decide first whether it should be translated at all. Brand and product names usually stay in the source language. Some technical terms are used in English by local professionals (check how local competitors and industry sites write them). Mark these “do not translate”. Of all the decisions in the glossary, this one saves the most rework.

Step 3: Define each term and give context

Write one line explaining what the term means in your business and add an example sentence. Translators and reviewers need this to pick the right word; “Plan” as a pricing tier and “plan” as a schedule are translated differently in most languages.

Step 4: Get approved translations from native reviewers

Ask a fluent reviewer for each language, ideally someone who knows your industry and market, to propose translations. Check them against:

• how local competitors and customers say it (search results are a good test);
• your style guide (formal vs. informal, capitalization);
• consistency with existing translated content.

Mark each translation as approved, with a name and date. If terms differ by region (Spanish for Spain vs. Mexico, Portuguese for Portugal vs. Brazil), add separate columns.

Step 5: Load it into your translation tools

A spreadsheet nobody opens changes nothing, so import the glossary into every tool that translates your content:

• Translation management systems usually accept CSV or TBX. TBX (TermBase eXchange) is the ISO standard for exchanging terminology, ISO 30042:2019 (tbxinfo.net).
• Website translation tools usually have a glossary or “rules” screen where each term is entered with its translation or a “do not translate” flag.
• Human translators should receive the glossary with every assignment.

Keeping the glossary alive

• Give it an owner: one person who approves additions and changes.
• Review it quarterly, and again whenever you launch a product, rename a feature or enter a new market.
• Deprecate old terms instead of deleting them. When a term changes, keep the old one marked “deprecated” next to its replacement, so translators know what happened.
• Add terms from reviews. When a reviewer corrects the same term twice, it belongs in the glossary.
• Compare it with search data. If customers in a market search with a different word than your approved term, discuss changing it.

Common glossary mistakes

1. Making it too big too soon. A 2,000-term glossary nobody maintains is worse than 150 terms everyone uses.
2. Leaving out the context column. Translators then guess, and each one guesses differently.
3. Treating Spanish (or Portuguese, or French) as one language. Regional differences matter for terms customers see.
4. Ignoring case and word form. Some tools match terms exactly, so “Workspace” and “workspaces” may need separate entries.
5. Building it after translation. Retrofitting consistent terms across an already translated site takes much longer than building the glossary first.

Using a glossary with ConveyThis

ConveyThis includes a glossary on paid plans. You’ll find it in your dashboard under Domains → your domain → Content Customization → Glossary (help article). For each term you can:

• set a fixed translation per language, or
• mark it so it stays untranslated in every language (useful for brand and product names).

Glossary rules apply to the automatic machine translation of your site, so your approved terms are used on every page from the first draft. Two practical notes from our glossary and exclusion settings guide: glossary matching is case-sensitive (“ConveyThis” and “CONVEYTHIS” are different entries), and a rule applies when the term sits in its own HTML element rather than in the middle of a longer sentence. For whole blocks that should never be translated (such as usernames), add the conveythis-no-translate class to the element (how to exclude segments).

Alongside the glossary, translation memory reuses approved sentences and the visual editor lets reviewers fix anything in context. If you already have terminology or translations from another tool, you can import translations as CSV or TMX files (import guide). For the broader quality workflow, see translation quality at ConveyThis.

FAQ

What is a glossary in localization?

It is a curated list of key terms with their approved translations for each target language, including terms that must stay untranslated. It keeps terminology consistent across translators, tools and pages.

What is the difference between a glossary and a translation memory?

A glossary controls individual terms and is maintained by hand. A translation memory stores whole translated sentences and grows automatically as you translate.

How many terms should a glossary have?

Start with 50 to 200 terms that matter most, such as brand names, product and feature names, and industry terms. Add more as reviewers find recurring issues.

What format should a translation glossary use?

A spreadsheet exported to CSV works for most tools. Dedicated terminology systems also support TBX, the ISO standard for terminology exchange.

Who should approve glossary translations?

Native speakers who know your industry and the target market, ideally the same reviewers who check your translated pages.

To apply your glossary across a whole site, create a ConveyThis account. For related reading, see why a translation glossary is key to localization success.