A termbase is the approved, multilingual vocabulary of your business: brand names, product names, model numbers, technical terms, and the words you never want translated. Unlike a document glossary, a termbase is a living database — each entry carries the approved term per language, the forbidden variants, a definition, and usage context.
The distinction from translation memory matters. TM stores sentences; a termbase stores concepts. TM makes repeated sentences free; the termbase makes sure that “frequency inverter” never comes back as “speed drive” in one manual and “variable-frequency drive” in the next — inconsistency that confuses buyers and, in regulated industries, fails audits.
Termbases pay back fastest in technical documentation, e-learning, and video, where the same terms recur across thousands of pages and every new language multiplies the risk of drift. They also make AI translation usable: engines constrained by a termbase produce drafts that already respect your vocabulary.
MediaLocalize builds and maintains a termbase for every client from the first project, mined from your existing documents and validated by your reviewers. Every translator, editor, and AI engine on your account works against it — and you can export it at any time.