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Language Resources

The Central Translation Office helps manage various language resources at Freie Universität Berlin, from the university’s online glossaries to internal terminology lists to preparing and maintaining an in-house style guide for English.

Freie Universität Glossaries

The university has three online glossaries available to help you find the right word for the right context:

Glossary of general university terms
A translation guide (German-English) was compiled to facilitate translations by members of the university. The guide contains translations of key terms used in university administration in general as well as terms used in the specific context of Freie Universität.

Student administration glossary
Another extensive glossary includes terminology specifically related to studying and teaching at the university.

Budget system terms
This glossary contains a selection of terms commonly used in the context of university finances and budgeting. It includes helpful definitions that fully explain terms and concepts from “Abbuchungen” to “Zielvereinbarungen.”

In-house Style Guide

We are currently putting together a Freie Universität Style Guide. This resource will include the information currently provided on the guidelines summary page in addition to more comprehensive and specific guidelines concerning grammar, punctuation, word choice, and spelling.

Language Reference Works Available through the Library Portal Primo

You probably have your own favorite online dictionaries that you use regularly. University members, however, have access to additional resources through their access to the university library system. Here is a selection.

Please note that Freie Universität uses American English in most cases.

German University Resources

Many German universities have their own translation offices or language services that have compiled other online resources, including glossaries with university-specific terminology. Here is a small selection of websites that provide further language resources in this context:

Non-university Resources

Here is a selection of popular and helpful online translation tools and dictionaries. We strongly recommend that you have a professional translator or editor review any texts generated using machine translation tools.

General Language Resources

EU Resources

DAAD Glossaries

Terminology Forums

There are a number of highly specific terms relating to subject areas – such as the German academic landscape and insurance system – that do not have direct one-to-one or especially straightforward equivalents in English.

In this case, you may find it helpful to consult terminology forums, which can offer a number of promising suggestions and tend to be curated by bilingual users, linguists, and professional translators. You can submit your own queries and respond to others’.

Forums are often your best bet at finding solutions to tricky linguistic problems – however, as some terms feature a high number of user contributions, it may take some time to sift through the posts, and the quality of suggestions sometimes varies.

  • leo.org forums – if you enter a search query and scroll to “Forumsdiskussionen, die den Suchbegriff enthalten” you may be able to find a suitable translation, or you can post your own query.
  • ProZ.com – this translation service platform features a term search where posters often assign terms to specific subject areas (useful for words with a variety of meanings) and can upvote and downvote suggestions.