Humorous Denglisch translation of the German idiom: “das Gelbe vom Ei” refers to an egg yolk, which is apparently the tastiest part of an egg, and therefore is used figuratively to mean “the best (bit)”. In Austria, if someone’s English is a bit rusty or their doubt their abilities in the language, they may well say “Mein Englisch ist nicht das Gelbe vom Ei”. For a practical example of an eminent Austrian politican whose English might not have been the yellow of the egg, enjoy this letter by former Austrian Vice-Chancellor, Hubert Gorbach, to Alistar (sic.) Darling.
Archives: Glossary Terms
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TMX
Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) is an XML specification for the exchange of translation memory (TM) data between computer-aided translation (CAT) and localization tools with little or no loss of critical data.
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too small to outsource
A translation job that effectively costs more to arrange the procurement of the external translation than to translate it yourself. Sometimes this is partly due to the fact that the translation would be charged at a translator’s minimum fee that is disproportionately expensive compared with the actual cost based on either the character/word/line count. Otherwise it can be that the time spent reviewing the translation and/or doing the necessary procurement added to the cost of the translation is substantially more than if you do the translation yourself.
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Translation Memory
A database of translation units (TUs) in a computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool.
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Transposition
The act of transposing European law (e.g. Directives or Regulations) into national law. It should be noted that European Regulations are directly applicable, whereas Directives require transposition to be applicable in national law..
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TWaT
Hybrid working model, where an employer is physically in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and works remotely on Mondays and Fridays.
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Universitas
Universitas (or Universitas Austria) is the Austrian Interpreters’ and Translators’ Association. The name Universitas reflects that it was initially established for university graduates of degrees in interpreting and translation.
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Wordface
A play on words with the “coalface”. Translators could be said to work at the wordface and might suggest “Getting back to the wordface!” to mean get back to work. The term apparently originates from Terry Pratchett’s “Going Postal”.
A few feet beyond there was the familiar wall of letters, packed as tight as rock strata. A watchman had been in here, too. Someone had tried to break through the wordface, and Moist could see the hole.
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your mileage may vary
An expression meaning that your personal experience might differ from the situation described. In translation terms for example, it can apply to productivity, as output may vary substantially due to text type and complexity.
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Zahn
Hans E. Zahn’s “Wörterbuch für Bank und Börse / Dictionary of Banking and Stock Trading”, known as “Der Zahn” is a bilingual dictionary for banking, with the 7th edition due to be released in the Summer of 2024.