Systematic terminology management is the foundation of translation consistency. ISO 22159 certification proves your agency delivers accurate, consistent terminology across every project and language pair.
ISO 22159:2021, "Terminology policies — Development and implementation," establishes requirements and guidelines for systematic terminology management within organizations, including language service providers. For translation agencies, this standard provides a framework for ensuring that terminology is extracted, validated, maintained, and applied consistently across all translation projects.
Terminology is the backbone of translation quality. When a client sends you 10,000 words about their product, the specific terms they use for components, features, processes, and concepts must be translated consistently every time, in every language, by every translator who works on their content. A single inconsistency — calling the same component a "valve" in one paragraph and a "gate" in another — can confuse end users, damage the client's brand, and in technical or medical contexts, create safety risks.
Despite its importance, terminology management is one of the most commonly neglected aspects of translation operations. Many agencies rely on individual translators' memories and personal glossaries rather than systematic, organization-wide terminology processes. ISO 22159 changes this by establishing clear requirements for terminology quality management.
ISO 22159 addresses the complete lifecycle of terminology within an organization:
The impact of terminology inconsistency extends far beyond linguistic aesthetics. Consider these real-world scenarios:
Enterprise clients are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their understanding of translation quality, and terminology consistency is at the top of their priority list. Major corporations invest significant resources in developing their product terminology, brand language, and technical vocabularies. They expect their translation providers to manage this terminology with the same rigor. ISO 22159 certification provides verifiable proof that your agency has the systems and processes to meet these expectations.
One of the most powerful benefits of ISO 22159 certification is its ability to demonstrate domain specialization. A translation agency with well-managed terminology databases in legal, medical, technical, or financial domains provides tangible evidence of specialized expertise. Unlike self-declared specializations, ISO 22159 certification is independently verified, giving clients confidence that your domain terminology knowledge is systematized and reliable.
Modern translation workflows revolve around Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, and terminology management is most effective when integrated into these workflows. ISO 22159 addresses how terminology resources should integrate with tools like SDL Trados Studio, memoQ, Memsource (Phrase), Wordfast, and other CAT environments. Key integration aspects include:
ISO 17100 (Translation Services) requires that terminology be managed as part of the translation service, but it does not prescribe how. ISO 17100 Clause 4.6 references terminology management as a project resource, and Clause 5.3.1 requires translators to use appropriate terminology. However, these are high-level requirements without detailed guidance.
ISO 22159 fills this gap completely. It provides the detailed framework for systematic terminology management that fulfills and exceeds ISO 17100's terminology requirements. Agencies that hold both certifications demonstrate comprehensive translation quality management with specialized terminology excellence — a powerful combination for client confidence.
Beyond quality, systematic terminology management delivers measurable efficiency gains:
ISO 22159 establishes a comprehensive framework for terminology management across six core areas.
Establish a documented terminology policy that defines your organization's commitment to systematic terminology management, including governance structure, roles, responsibilities, and resource allocation for terminology activities.
Implement systematic processes for identifying and extracting terminology from source materials, client references, domain corpora, and existing translation assets. Define extraction criteria, tools, and workflows.
Establish validation workflows that ensure extracted terms and their translations are accurate, domain-appropriate, and client-approved. Include subject matter expert review, client approval processes, and conflict resolution procedures.
Build and maintain structured terminology databases with standardized data categories: source term, target term, definition, context, domain, client, status, and usage notes. Implement version control and access management.
Integrate terminology resources with your translation technology stack. Configure term recognition, quality assurance checks, and consistency verification within CAT tools used by in-house and freelance translators.
Define and track terminology quality metrics: consistency rates, term base coverage, validation status, and compliance scores. Use metrics to drive continuous improvement in terminology management processes.
TranslationCert makes terminology management certification straightforward and practical.
Assess your current terminology management practices: existing glossaries, term bases, CAT tool configurations, and terminology workflows. Identify gaps against ISO 22159 requirements and prioritize remediation steps.
Receive tailored documentation including terminology policy templates, extraction procedures, validation workflows, term base structure guidelines, and quality metric definitions. Designed specifically for translation agencies.
Deploy terminology management processes across your organization. Set up or restructure your term bases, configure CAT tool integrations, train your team on new workflows, and establish quality measurement baselines.
BALTUM auditors evaluate your terminology management system: policy documentation, term base quality, extraction and validation processes, CAT tool integration, and quality metric tracking. Includes sample project review.
Receive your ISO 22159 certificate with IAF MLA recognition. Use certification to demonstrate domain specialization, win enterprise clients, and differentiate your agency in competitive markets.
Systematic terminology management delivers quality, efficiency, and competitive advantages.
Well-managed terminology databases in specific domains (legal, medical, technical, financial) provide verifiable evidence of specialized knowledge.
Large corporations with complex product lines require systematic terminology management from their LSPs. Certification satisfies this requirement immediately.
Ensure consistent terminology whether work is done by in-house translators, freelancers, or subcontractors. One approved term base serves everyone.
Systematic terminology management reduces reviewer corrections by 30-50%, accelerating project delivery and reducing costs for both you and your clients.
Consistent terminology directly increases translation memory match rates, reducing per-word costs and improving delivery speed on repeat projects.
New translators immediately access approved terminology for each client and domain, reducing ramp-up time and early-project quality issues.
Add detailed terminology management on top of ISO 17100's general quality framework. The combination demonstrates comprehensive translation quality assurance.
Consistent terminology preserves brand voice, product naming, and corporate identity across all languages and markets your clients serve.
Everything you need to know about ISO 22159 terminology quality certification.
ISO 22159 does not mandate specific software. You can implement compliant terminology management with a range of tools, from well-structured spreadsheets to dedicated terminology management systems like SDL MultiTerm, memoQ's term base module, Across crossTerm, or cloud-based solutions like TermWeb. The standard focuses on processes and quality, not specific tools. That said, dedicated terminology tools make implementation significantly easier and more sustainable, especially as your term bases grow.
ISO 22159 does not specify a minimum number of terms. Quality matters far more than quantity. A well-maintained term base with 500 validated terms for a specific domain — each with approved translations, definitions, context examples, and usage notes — is far more valuable than 50,000 unvalidated entries dumped from various sources. The standard evaluates the quality of your terminology processes: how terms are identified, validated, maintained, and applied in translation work.
ISO 17100 requires terminology management as part of translation service quality but does not detail how to implement it. ISO 22159 provides the comprehensive framework: policy development, extraction methods, validation workflows, database management, CAT tool integration, and quality metrics. Together, the two standards demonstrate both general translation quality (17100) and specialized terminology excellence (22159). This combination is particularly attractive to enterprise clients with complex product lines.
Yes, and the standard actively encourages it. Integration with CAT tools is essential for making terminology management practical in day-to-day translation work. Most major CAT platforms (SDL Trados, memoQ, Phrase/Memsource, Wordfast, Across) support terminology integration through term bases, term recognition, QA checks, and consistency reporting. ISO 22159 covers how to configure and maintain these integrations effectively, including handling of forbidden terms, preferred terms, and terminology status levels.
Absolutely. Terminology management is critical for all language combinations, though specific challenges vary. Well-resourced language pairs (English-German, English-French) may have more existing terminology resources, while less common pairs may require more original term creation and validation. Some languages present unique terminology challenges: compound word formation in German, honorific systems in Japanese and Korean, or technical neologism conventions in Chinese. ISO 22159 provides a flexible framework that adapts to these variations.
With TranslationCert, ISO 22159 certification typically takes 2-4 weeks. Agencies that already have structured terminology databases and documented processes will move through the process faster. Those building terminology management from scratch will need more implementation time, but our documentation templates and guidance significantly accelerate the journey. Agencies with existing ISO 17100 certification have a natural advantage since many foundational quality processes are already in place.
Client-specific terminology is a core use case for ISO 22159. The standard covers how to manage separate terminology resources for different clients, handle conflicting term preferences between clients in the same domain, maintain client confidentiality in shared environments, and govern the lifecycle of client-specific term bases from creation through maintenance to archival. Your term base architecture should cleanly separate client-specific terms from domain-general terminology.
Yes, and managing freelancer access to approved terminology is a key component of ISO 22159 implementation. The standard addresses how to provide terminology resources to external translators while maintaining security and version control. Common approaches include term base packages exported for specific projects, cloud-based terminology access with role-based permissions, and integrated access through shared CAT tool environments. The goal is ensuring every translator uses the same approved terminology, regardless of their employment status.