A website translation glossary is a list of rules that define how specific words on your site should (or shouldn’t) be translated. By setting these rules upfront, you save time on manual edits, and ensure your brand message stays clear and consistent in all languages.
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The first part of this template will highlight the terms you need to consider with real examples, use cases and instructions to help you define your own rules.
Then you’ll find a glossary template that you can use to create your own version. Alongside your website translation project, you can also refer to this table for internal alignment and multichannel consistency (ads, emails, etc.).
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Some words on your website need to stay exactly as they are, no matter the language. Marking these as “do not translate” ensures your brand identity and message remain intact.
Here are the most common terms that should be considered:
Examples: Weglot, DeepL, Netflix
Brand names are recognized globally and should remain untranslated to protect brand integrity and messaging. Let’s imagine that you refer to the brand “Apple” in your website content. Although AI translation is advanced enough to understand context, in certain cases these kinds of brand names can be translated literally, causing misunderstandings and confusion.
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Action point: Make a quick list of all the brand names and product lines that’s mentioned on your website. Make sure to include your own brand name, your customers brands, partner brands or other stakeholders.
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Examples: Pro Plan, iPhone, Google Drive
Some products and features are marketed globally under the same name. Translating them would cause confusion or break consistency with official naming. For example, on Weglot’s pricing page, you’ll notice that the plan names stay the same no matter in which language you display the website.
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Action point: Cross-check your website with your product catalog, features or pricing page. However, you might still prefer to have certain product related terms to be translated. In that case, refer to the “Terms That Should Always Be Translated a Specific Way” section below to follow best practices.
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Examples: HTML, API, SaaS
These terms are widely understood in their original form, even by non-English speakers. Translating them might sound odd or incorrect. Unless you’re certain of their local equivalents, it’s safer to keep these untranslated.
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Action point: Review your website for technical jargon. If the term is recognized internationally, keep it untranslated. A good way to validate this is to check online platforms like forums, blogs and even social media channels to understand how your audience uses these terms.
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Other words should always be translated in a consistent, specific way to avoid confusion or to improve accuracy. Predefining these terms will help you make sure your content conveys the intended message in all languages and in the case of keywords, it can significantly impact your SEO performance.
Here are the most common terms that should be considered:
Examples: “Checkout” → “Paiement” in French, “Cart” → “Warenkorb” in German
These terms are critical for user navigation and conversion. If translated inconsistently, they can confuse visitors, hurt UX and overall website performance.
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Action point: Go through your website journey (homepage → product → checkout) as your visitors would. Define key terms and CTAs that impact their actions and understand the nuances between different translation options. You can check local competitor websites to identify common phrases.
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Examples: “Website translation” → “Übersetzung Website” (German), “Traduction site web” (French)
The way people search differs by market. A glossary ensures you target the right terms that match local search behavior, instead of literal word-by-word translations. Getting this part right can significantly boost your SEO and GEO performance.
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Action point: Use SEO tools (like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner) to see what your target keywords look like in each market, and lock those into your glossary. You can watch our video tutorial to learn more about translating keywords.
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Examples: “Just Do It” (Nike), “Because You’re Worth It” (L’Oréal), “The Easiest Way to Translate a Website” (Weglot)
Taglines are designed to resonate emotionally but direct translations often fall flat or sound off. Instead, they need to be transcreated, which means to adapt them to each language and culture while keeping the same meaning and impact.
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Action point: You can work with professional translators, native speakers or even LLMs like ChatGPT to find culturally relevant versions. For example, a play on words in English may need a completely different phrase in French or German to convey the same feeling. Add these approved versions into your glossary so they’re always used consistently.
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Now you know how to create your own website translation glossary! Below you’ll find a ready-to-use table to help you list and track your glossary rules. You can add more properties or views to customize your glossary further.
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You can manually create translation rules using the glossary section in your Dashboard. Learn more here.
You can also turn your Website Translation Glossary table into a CSV file (manually or using AI) and import it directly into your Weglot Dashboard. Below is an exemplary document showing the correct file format.
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This resource was crafted to help you grow across borders, just like we help 110,000+ websites go multilingual effortlessly. Weglot makes it easy to launch a multilingual website. Translate instantly with AI, refine with human edits, and go live in multiple languages. Start you 14-day free trial today.
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