When the Dictionary Offers Three Wrong Answers
You are translating a 700-word German technical bulletin about hydraulic press maintenance into English for field technicians. The term Dichtfläche appears 14 times. Your general dictionary gives "sealing surface," "gasket face," and "packing area." The client permits general dictionaries and the company's 40-term in-house glossary, which does not include this term. Context sentences include: "Reinigen Sie die Dichtfläche vor dem Einlegen der Dichtung," and "Eine beschädigte Dichtfläche führt zu Druckabfall." The press uses an O-ring, not a gasket or packing. A colleague suggests "seal face" because it is shorter and fits the 12-character limit in a table column.
1. How do you choose among the dictionary options using only permitted resources?
Read the worked answer
Use the source context as the deciding evidence, not the dictionary order. Dichtung here is an O-ring, so the surface it seats against is not a gasket face or packing area - those imply different hardware. "Sealing surface" is the generic, defensible choice and matches the dictionary's first sense. "Seal face" is plausible but is often a specific machined face in mechanical-seal assemblies, which this press may not have; adopting it on a colleague's hunch without support is a recall-style guess. The disciplined move is to select "sealing surface," log the reasoning and the rejected options, and flag it for client confirmation. A general dictionary plus internal consistency is enough to justify a choice; it is not enough to justify an unsupported specialist term.
2. The table column allows only 12 characters. "Sealing surface" is 15. What now?
Read the worked answer
Do not let a layout constraint silently change terminology mid-document. Using "seal face" in the table and "sealing surface" in prose creates two English terms for one German term, and a technician may read them as two different parts. Options, in order of preference: widen the column (a layout fix, not a translation fix); abbreviate consistently with a table key, e.g., "sealing surf." with a legend; or, if the client confirms "seal face" is the plant's own usage, adopt it everywhere and note the change. The unacceptable option is an unremarked split. Raise the constraint with the client rather than solving it invisibly.
3. How does the in-house glossary's silence affect your obligations?
Read the worked answer
A 40-term glossary that omits the document's most frequent term is a signal, not a gap to ignore. It means the client has not standardized this term, so your choice will propagate. Build a mini term base for this job: source term, chosen target, rejected options with reasons, and where each occurs. Deliver it with the translation and ask the client to ratify it for future bulletins. This protects consistency across the 14 occurrences now and prevents the next translator from choosing differently. It also converts an unanswerable terminology question into a documented, reviewable decision - which is what the terminology domain rewards.