Nov 21, 2008

Microsoft Terminology Translations

Since the disappearance of Microsoft's TM material from the FTP site a few years ago, a lot of us who translate material involving Windows terminology have been frustrated. The Microsoft Language Portal is, to me at least, a very inadequate substitute. Well, finally - following hints on a British translation blog - I managed to find a somewhat better replacement: the Microsoft Terminology Translations list. This is by no means as good as the old material, which was divided up according to product, so one could be reasonably sure of the scope of a term or phrase found. The current list offers no context whatsoever, so it is unclear whether a string applies to Windows Vista, XP or an older OS. Maybe the material available to MSDN subscribers has been updated to cover Vista now and covers this, but I presently have no access to an MSDN subscription, so I simply don't know.

After I downloaded the term list, it took me less than 5 minutes to get rid of the superfluous material and prepare the data for import into a TM or termbase. There are just under 11,000 complete pairs for German and English.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Kevin:

    I have older versions of several of the Excel files stored in my archive (2002, one even from 2006). I'd be glad to forward any or all to you or anyone else who wants a copy.

    ReplyDelete

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