BIK Terminology

Solving the terminology puzzle, one posting at a time

  • About
    • Curriculum Vitae
  • Services
  • Portfolio
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact

Why doublettes are bad

June 15, 2011 by Barbara Inge Karsch

One of the main reasons of having a concept-oriented terminology database is that we can set up one definition to represent the concept and can then attach all its designations, including all equivalents in the target language. It helps save cost, drive standardization and increase usability. Doublettes offset these benefits.

The below diagrams are simplifications, of course, but they explain visually why concept orientation is necessary when you are dealing with more than one language in a database. To explain it briefly: once the concept is established through a definition and other concept-related metadata, source and target designators can be researched and documented. Sometimes this research will result in multiple target equivalents when there was only one source designator; sometimes it is just the opposite, where, say, the source languages uses a long and a short form, but the target language only has a long form.

If you had doublettes in your database it not only means that the concept research happened twice and, to a certain level, unsuccessfully. But it also means that designators have to be researched twice and their respective metadata has to be documented twice. The more languages there are, the more expensive that becomes. Rather than having, say, a German terminologist research the concept denoted by automated teller machine, ATM and electronic cash machine, cash machine, etc. two or more times, research takes place once and the German equivalent Bankautomat is attached as equivalent potentially as equivalent for all English synonyms.

Doublettes also make it more difficult to work towards standardized terminology. When you set up a terminological entry including the metadata to guide the consumer of the terminological data in usage, standardization happens even if there are multiple synonyms. Because they are all in one record, the user has, e.g. usage, product, or version information to choose the applicable term for their context. But it is also harder to use, because the reader has to compare two entries to find the guidance.

And lastly, if that information is in two records, it might be harder to discover. Depending on the search functionality, the designator and the language of the designator, the doublettes might display in one search. But chances are that only one is found and taken for the only record on the concept. With increasing data volumes more doublettes will happen, but retrievability is a critical part of usability. And without usability, standardization is even less likely and even more money was wasted.

SHARE THIS:

Filed Under: Maintaining a database, Return on investment, Standardizing entries Tagged With: cost, doublette, dublicate entry, duplicate, standardization, usability

Blog Categories

  • Advanced terminology topics
  • Branding
  • Content publisher
  • Events
  • Interesting terms
  • Job posting
  • Process
    • Coining terms
    • Designing a terminology database
    • Maintaining a database
    • Researching terms
    • Selecting terms
    • Setting up entries
    • Standardizing entries
  • Return on investment
  • Skills and qualities
    • Negotiation skills
    • Producing quality
    • Producing quantity
  • Subject matter expert
  • Terminologist
  • Terminology 101
    • Terminology methods
    • Terminology of terminology
    • Terminology principles
  • TermNet
  • Theory
  • Tool
    • iTerm
    • Machine translation
    • Proprietary terminology management systems
      • J.D. Edwards TDB
      • Microsoft Terminology Studio
    • Term extraction tool
      • memoQ
    • Terminology portals
      • BACUS
      • EuroTermBank
      • Irish National Terminology Database
      • Microsoft Language Portal
      • Rikstermbanken
  • Translator
  • Usability

Blog Archives

  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010

BIK Terminology

  • About Barbara Inge Karsch
  • Terminology Services
  • Terminology Resources
  • My Terminology Portfolio
  • Let’s Talk Terminology

From the Blog

  • A glossary for MT–terrific! MT on a glossary—horrific!
  • Part-time position for an Arabic terminologist
  • Tidbit from the ATA Conference
  • Bilingual corpora and target terminology research
  • Terminology internship at Eurocopter in France

Find It Here

Follow Me

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
Copyright © 2023 BIK Terminology. All Rights Reserved. Sitemap. Website by sundaradesign.