Corporate terminology processes : an analysis of terminological search and usage behaviour by engineers in a German corporate context

Abstract

Communication is one of the keys to having a successful company: all persons or employees involved must always communicate effectively and purposefully. This means that all those engaged within an organisation should always know what is shared and understand the associated meaning without much effort. A success factor for holistic communication within a company is a coordinated corporate language or defined terminology. This condition can be created by a company-wide language service, which ensures that all written and oral language-related internal or external processes are carried out uniformly, clearly, and organised. Also, to ensure consistent communication between the parties involved within the company or with customers and suppliers, a terminology department organises the terminology, as to be seen in many internationally operating mechanical engineering companies. Terminology management and the associated terminology work in an organisation always interplay with linguistic and technical aspects and different actors. This leads to terminologists coordinating with engineers or other specialist departments of the respective company to determine which terms may or may not be used for a particular object. As a result, the terminology department and the individual terminology managers always act in a client-oriented way to maintain a universal language culture within the organisation. All in all, terminology is shaped by everyone for everyone. In an effort by the terminology department at Krones AG to streamline its terminology service towards an innovative, interactive, and user-friendly approach, they plan to understand the engineers’ reality better and optimise its terminology process and shape it to meet its clients' needs to ensure easy access and search concerning terminology information and the database (Head of Terminology and Translation, Krones 2021, personal communication). However, the challenge lies in the lack of a platform that can serve as a user-friendly search engine through which defined and organised terminology can be retrieved company-wide simply and intelligently. This research aimed to determine engineers’ search and usage behaviour within Krones AG concerning the terminology process through an empirical analysis. To do this, the existing terminology processes were graphically sketched, modelled, and analysed, resulting in questions on the users/clients (engineers, technical experts, and departments). A catalogue of questions was created from the essential open questions to answer the interaction and cooperation between the terminology department and the engineers.