Glossary lock for lab terminology in collaborative translation
Lock lab terms in Lattuce collaborative translation so translation memory stays consistent across papers.
A lab that publishes in two languages fails in a boring way: three students, three Malay renderings of the same assay name. Glossary lock in Lattuce is the plain-language fix — you name the terms that must not drift, then translators and translation memory reuse that wording.
This is collaborative translation on lattuce.app, not a consumer phrasebook. EN↔MS is the example pair below; the same locks apply to other locales your household configures.
Audience split
| Role | Job with the glossary |
|---|---|
| PI or lab lead | Decide which coinages, kit names, and institution strings are non-negotiable |
| Author | Add those entries before the first sync; keep EN source spelling stable |
| Translator | Use the locked target string; do not invent a “nicer” synonym mid-paper |
| Household admin | Translation accounts are personal — no shared passwords |
Authors work in Writer and Translate mode. Translators work in the translation editor. Day-to-day wording happens on segments; the glossary is the short list that sits above taste.
Two terms, one sentence each
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Translation memory (TM) | A store of already approved source–target pairs. The editor suggests them when a new sentence looks like an old one. |
| Locked glossary term | A word or short phrase you marked must use this target. Suggestions still appear; the required term does not float. |
You do not need the internals of the translation stack. If a suggestion disagrees with a lock, keep the lock.
Workflow overview
Hot path (every new paper after the lab list exists):
- Author finishes the English section and opens Translate mode.
- Confirm glossary entries for this paper (or reuse the lab list).
- Sync segments. Translator sees TM hits and locked terms.
- Translator fills remaining sentences; human approves each string.
- Author reviews the target column and exports Word.
Cold path (first lab paper): agree the term list in a meeting, then enter it once. Linking translation accounts is in Collaborative translation on Lattuce.
Lock terms before a crowd of students starts translating. Retrofitting a glossary after three inconsistent abstracts is possible — TM will still remember the old variants until you clean them.
What to lock (and what to leave)
| Lock | Leave free |
|---|---|
| Assay, instrument, and kit brand names | Ordinary verbs and connectors |
| Statistical tests the lab always names the same way | Literary synonyms in discussion prose |
| Institution, faculty, and ethics-board official names | Author voice in acknowledgements |
| Drug / compound names and gene symbols | Numbers that stay in the source language |
If two PIs disagree on a Malay technical calque, decide once and lock it. The glossary is a policy, not a suggestion box.
EN↔MS as example pair
A Malaysian lab’s first ten locks often look like this:
| English (source) | Malay (locked target) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty of … (official) | The faculty’s published BM name | Letterhead and ethics forms already use it |
| Western blot | The lab’s chosen BM or retained English | Mixing “blot Barat” and English in one thesis looks sloppy |
| Institutional name | Official BM / EN pair | Abstracts and title pages must match |
Configure target locale ms on the project. Other pairs use the same table — change the target column, not the discipline.
For the approve-then-sync abstract loop, see Approve EN section → MS abstract. For a full chapter, see Translate a thesis chapter.
How authors add locks
- Open the paper in Writer → Translate mode.
- Add glossary entries for each non-negotiable pair (source term → required target).
- Sync sections only after the list is in — headings and paragraphs become segments that can hit those terms.
- If peer review renames a method in English, update the EN source and the glossary row, then re-sync.
Do not paste a fifty-page style guide into a segment. Locks are short, repeatable strings.
How translators honour locks
- Open the assigned project in the translation editor.
- When a segment contains a locked term, use the required target. TM may also offer a full prior sentence — read it; keep the lock if the old sentence used a rejected synonym.
- Flag a lock that is wrong for this journal (some titles want English method names in the abstrak). The author updates the glossary; you do not silently override it.
AI machinery can propose a fluent sentence that still misses the locked term. Treat that as a draft.
Shared TM at household scale
Locks plus TM are how a lab household stays consistent across the second and third paper:
| Benefit | How |
|---|---|
| Same “materials and methods” phrasing | TM suggests last year’s approved segments |
| Coinages do not drift between students | Glossary lock sits on the term |
| Faster abstract on paper two | Pattern reuse — still human-reviewed |
Memory stays on translation projects your household owns — not a global consumer pool. Household scope and locale pairs: Multilingual research lab.
Lattuce does not market “automatic perfect translation.” Humans approve segments; TM and locks assist.
Related reading
- Collaborative translation on Lattuce
- Multilingual research lab
- Translate a thesis chapter
- Bilingual journal abstracts
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Bahasa Melayu: Kunci glosari untuk istilah makmal dalam terjemahan kolaboratif