A good translation starts with one question that comes before any word is translated: which field does this text belong to?
The same word can mean something completely different in a contract, a hospital report and an engineering manual. Translating word for word, with a general dictionary as the only guide, picks the most common meaning every time. Translating by field picks the meaning the author actually intended.
This guide explains the difference between vocabulary and terminology, shows how a single word changes across fields, and gives you a simple method you can use on any text.
Vocabulary and terminology are not the same thing
Vocabulary is the everyday meaning of words, the one you find first in a general dictionary. It is flexible: you can often choose between several synonyms and the sentence still works.
Terminology is the fixed meaning a word carries inside a specific field. It is precise: in law, medicine or engineering there is usually one accepted equivalent in the target language, and a synonym that looks equally good can change the meaning or sound wrong to a specialist.
Most texts mix both. The narrative parts run on vocabulary; the parts that carry obligations, diagnoses or specifications run on terminology. Those are the parts that decide whether a translation can be trusted.
One word, several fields
A few English words show how much the field matters:
- Consideration. In everyday English it means thoughtfulness. In contract law it is the value each party gives in exchange, such as a price or a service, and without it many contracts are not binding.
- Discharge. In a hospital it is the patient's release, or a fluid in a symptom description. In electrical engineering it is the release of stored charge. In law it can mean being released from a debt or an obligation.
- Positive. In daily speech it is good news. On a medical test result it means the condition was detected.
- Tender. In public procurement it is a formal offer to supply goods or services. In medicine it describes a spot that hurts when pressed. In finance, legal tender is money that must be accepted as payment.
- Execution. For a contract it is the act of signing it. For a court judgment it is its enforcement. In software it is running a program.
Each of these has a different, established equivalent in the target language for every field. Knowing the field is what tells you which one to use.
Consistency matters as much as accuracy
A term has to be right, and it has to stay the same.
In a lease, if "deposit" is translated one way in clause 3 and another way in clause 9, a careful reader will ask whether they are two different payments. In a user manual, a button called one thing in step 2 and something else in step 5 sends people looking for a button that does not exist.
In everyday writing, varying your words keeps a text lively. In legal, medical or technical writing, repeating the same term is a sign of precision, and readers rely on it.
A simple method: field first, then terms, then text
This order works for any text, whether you translate it yourself or review someone else's work.
- Name the field. Read the first page and decide: legal, medical, technical, financial, literary? A text can have a main field and a secondary one, such as a medical device manual that is both medical and technical.
- List the key terms. Pick the words the text cannot afford to get wrong, usually five to fifteen for a few pages.
- Find the accepted equivalent for each. Use sources from that field: a glossary for the field, the official terminology of the institution involved, or a public term base such as IATE, the European Union's terminology database.
- Fix them before you start. Write the pairs down and treat them as settled for the whole text.
- Translate the text. With the terminology decided, you can give your full attention to meaning, tone and flow.
Steps 1 to 4 take a few minutes and save far more time in review.
How Ravira puts this method to work
Ravira is built around exactly this order, so the terminology work is done before the translation begins.
- Ravira recognises the field. Ravira identifies the domain of your text automatically, across 20 domains including legal, medical, technical, financial, academic, literary and spiritual, and applies the matching terminology. When you work through the Ravira connector in Claude, you can also name the domain in your request.
- The terms are already in place. Ravira draws on 5.3 million terms across 108 languages, including languages with few public resources.
- The terms stay consistent. The same concept is translated the same way from the first page to the last.
- Your own terms come with you. Your glossary holds the words that are specific to you, such as product names, company vocabulary or a preferred translation, and Ravira uses them in your translations.
The result is a translation where the terminology is settled from the start, and your review can focus on the text itself.
Keep learning
Terminology is the foundation; the next two guides build on it:
- How to prepare a text for translation: 6 steps before you start: six steps to take before you start, from clear sentences to your own glossary.
- Translate and refine your texts inside Claude with Ravira: choose the domain, translate, then adapt and review the result in one conversation.
Ready to try it? Start translating with Ravira and see the right terminology applied from the first line.