Glossary Creation Tips

I keep my glossaries in text format, tab-delimited, with the source text in the first column, the definition in the second, and comments (if necessary) in the third. An example of this is shown below:

glossary	用語集	【参】ビジネス技術実用英語大辞典
dictionary	辞書	【参】www.alc.co.jp/index.html
electric sheep	電気羊	【参】www.amazon.co.jp

I didn't always do it this way. I started out with yesteryear paper and pencils, but organization and storage of the loose-leaf and notebooks were a pain. Then I tried complicated Excel and database formats, but found that I could rarely make use of them after each project was finished. Now I've migrated to this format because it is simple, accessible using GREP-capable software, and I can use it with translation software like Wordfast.

Of course, this glossary can also be used as a word list for studying, but since my primary purpose for making the glossaries is to unify terminology for each client with a client glossary and maintain general consistency across several projects with my homegrown glossary, I don't have too many notes on usage or example sentences in it. That sort of information is in my Wordfast translation memory.

Tips

Enter information using Excel, and save the files in text formats with tabs separating each column. Naturally, if you are translating from Japanese to English, then the source terms will be in Japanese in the first column and the English definitions will go into the second column.[Screenshot]
To print, open in Excel and arrange information if necessary
Name files with the date and project name and save them in a single location.

Helpful Resources

翻訳者のためのパソコンの使いこなし裏ワザ (柳英夫)
柳英夫(Yanagi, Hideo) "モバイルパソコン情報武装のススメ," 通訳翻訳ジャーナル , April 1999, 70.
"２１世紀のデジタル検索," 通訳翻訳ジャーナル, October 2001, 34.
枝廣淳子(Edahiro Junko), "私と辞書のつきあい方," 通訳翻訳ジャーナル , October 2001, 12.
"検索環境整備計画," 通訳翻訳ジャーナル, April 2000, 92.