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A glossary keeps your terminology consistent across every language and every translator. It’s a shared list of terms with approved translations and rules — and those rules actively guide and check translations as people work. A glossary is a first-class object in TextSetu (alongside projects and translation memories), and one glossary can be attached to multiple projects.

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What a glossary contains

Each glossary holds terms. A term has:
  • A source term (e.g. “Bag”, “Just Do It”, “Favourites”).
  • An approved translation per language (where applicable).
  • Rules / metadata, such as:
    • Do not translate — keep the term as-is in every language (brand names like “Nike”, “Jordan”).
    • Forbidden — a term that must not be used, optionally pointing to the preferred alternative (e.g. forbid “Cart”, prefer “Bag”).
    • Notes — guidance for translators.
  • A status — approved terms apply; proposed terms can await approval, just like translations.

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How a glossary helps while translating

Once a glossary is attached to a project, it works in the background:
  • Suggestions — when a source string contains a glossary term, the approved translation is suggested in the editor. See Translating.
  • QA checks — if a translation uses a forbidden term, or fails to follow a do-not-translate rule, it’s flagged. See Quality Checks.
This is how you stop terminology drift — “Cart” vs “Bag”, “Wishlist” vs “Favourites” — before it ships.

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Managing a glossary

A glossary has its own workspace, with: Secondary areas (Import, Export, Languages, Activity, Access, Settings, Applicable projects) live under a More menu in the glossary’s tab strip. In Settings, the QA and Workflow toggles save automatically; turning one off asks you to confirm. Turning approval off discards any in-progress term proposals awaiting review. On the Terms list, the Filters panel narrows by missing-in-language, approval status, usage status (preferred / deprecated / forbidden), do-not-translate, and case-sensitive, with removable chips. Each term also keeps its own history of changes.

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Importing terms

On the glossary Import page, upload a CSV with a term column, language columns, and metadata columns such as do_not_translate, forbidden, and notes. See Import & Export and the file formats reference.

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Proposed terms and approval

Like translations, a glossary term’s translation can be proposed and await approval before it becomes the approved version — keeping terminology decisions reviewed.

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Example

A retail brand glossary might define:
  • Nike, Just Do It, Jordan → do not translate.
  • Cart → forbidden; use Bag instead.
  • Wishlist → deprecated; use Favourites.
A translator who types “Cart” into any value sees an immediate QA error, and the suggested correct term.
Related: Translating · Quality Checks · Translation Memory