Kara Warburton is an internationally-recognized expert with 25 years experience in developing and managing terminology databases and other types of lexical data and micro-content. Well versed in international standards for language resources, she also delivers professional training workshops and teaches university courses in terminology management, localization, and related subjects. 

Kara has developed a unique approach based on her view that any form of micro-content can be leveraged to improve the way companies or organizations communicate -- and compete -- globally. This approach is all the more essential and relevant when developing semantic resources (ontologies, knowledge graphs) for AI applications. "There is no reason why an organization's existing termbase can not be leveraged to enhance how AI performs for that organization." She takes the classical notion of "terminology management" to new levels and multiplies the benefits and the ROI for the organizations that she serves.

• MA and PhD in Terminology Management
• Leading expert in standards for terminology and other language resources at ISO TC37
• Consultant to over 25 companies and organizations
• Trainer in professional workshops for terminologists
• Prolific author and conference presenter on terminology management, localization, and related topics
• Offers online courses in terminology management
• Holder of a patent in terminology extraction
• Bilingual (English-French)

Hot off the press - our second book!

Published June 2025

The book Terminology throughout History: a discipline in the making seeks to establish terminology as a distinct discipline by tracing its history from antiquity to modern times. Comprising 31 chapters from over 60 contributors, and co-edited by Kara Warburton and John Humbley, the book is poised to become a cornerstone in the field of Terminology Science, with implications for AI (artificial intelligence), NLP (natural language processing) and information management.

Terminology and AI

Kara Warburton gave the keynote presentation at a conference on Terminology and Artificial Intelligence, hosted by the University of Malaysia, in September 2024. Click here to view a video recording of the presentation.

Prior to this conference I interviewed four experts about AI and the language industry. Click here to view the interviews.

Managing terminology in a fast-paced environment?

Kara's book, The Corporate Terminologist is the only book ever published that describes practical approaches for managing terminology and other forms of micro-content in commercial and other production environments (e.g. NGOs, governments, other institutions). While not neglecting fundamental theoretical and methodological concepts, she puts it all into a more practical perspective showing what is important and what is less so. The book includes ideas for building a business case, and technical topics such as how to select a terminology management system, perform term extraction, and make sense of TBX. The content is all the more relevant today as organizations seek to leverage their terminology databases in AI implementations.

For full details, click here.

Key Positions

Terminology Management Consultant at Termologic   

Since 2006, Termologic

• Providing advice and coaching for over 25 NGOs, enterprises, and governments.
• Designing, developing, and implementing the organization's terminology database and related processes including workflows, term extraction, and quality assurance
• Ensuring compliance with international standards

University lecturer/professor

• York University (2004-2009), City University of Hong Kong (2011-2013), University of Illinois (2018-2022), University of Québec at Trois-Rivières (since 2022)
• Invited guest lecturer at various universities in Europe and Asia
• Supervised MA research projects in terminology, translation, app localization, computer-assisted translation, and machine translation
• Subjects: Translation, Localization, Terminology Management, Computer-Assisted Translation, Comparative grammar and stylistics (English-French), English Style, Critical Discourse Analysis, Business Writing (including XML/DITA)

Head of Terminology, IBM

1999-2010

• Developed a global terminology management strategy
• Oversaw the development of terminology management tools, systems, and workflows
• Invented a term extraction process, which was awarded a US Patent (No: 7,478,092)

Trainer for Professional Terminologists

Delivery of training for professional terminologists at: Localization World (Bangkok,  2014), Terminology and Knowledge Engineering (TKE) (Madrid, 2012), TermNet (Ottawa, 2011 and Vienna,  2010), and LISA seminars in Zurich (2005), Shanghai (2006), New York (2006), Berlin (2007), San Francisco (2008), Dublin (2008), and Beijing (2011)

Offers online courses in the management of terminology and other forms of micro-content

Video interview featured in courses offered (in French) by the Université de Montréal:

• La terminologie : une discipline de multiples applications (Terminology - a discipline with multiple applications)
• TRA6020- Terminologie, textes et connaissances (Masters and PhD course - Terminology, texts, and knowledge)

Areas of Expertise and Ongoing Research

• Semantic resources for AI
• Data categories and data modelling for terminology databases
• Optimization of termbases for global organizations and enterprises
• Leveraging of termbases for applications beyond conventional translation, such as controlled authoring, search engine optimization, machine translation, and artificial intelligence
• Term extraction and post-processing
• International standards for language resources, including XML markup languages
• Computer-assisted translation tools
• Software and app localization

Industry Leadership

• Standards developer at ISO TC37 Language and Terminology. Held leadership positions including Convenor, Project Leader, and International Chair
• Founding member of TerminOrgs, a consortium of terminologists working in large organizations. Contributed to TBX-Basic, Terminology Starter Guide, and other projects
• Developer and technical manager of DatCatInfo, a database of linguistic data categories used in the research and development of language resources world-wide
• Terminology Advisor for the Localization Industry Standards Association
• Developer of a Language Standards portal for GALA
• Owner/manager of the Terminology Group in LinkedIn
• Member of program committees for ToTH, LREC

Technical Knowledge

• HTML, SGML, XML, DTD, RelaxNG, Schematron, XMLSchema, and processors such as oXygen and SVN
• Industry-based XML standards: TBX, TMX, SRX, GMX, XLIFF, DITA, ITS, TEI, ODD, SKOS, OWL
• Computer-assisted translation tools: RWS Trados suite, Memsource, MemoQ, MultiTrans, XTM, Crowdin, WordFast, Smartling
• Concordancers: WordSmith, AntConc, Sketch Engine
• Terminology Management Systems: Interverbum TermWeb, MultiTrans TermBase, Terminologue, TermStar, RWS MultiTerm, DanTerm iTerm, IBM Translexis, and others
• Term Extraction Tools: TermoStat, Temis, Synchroterm, AntConc, Sketch Engine, TermSuite and others
• Text processing tools, such as UltraEdit. Skilled with regular expressions
• Systems for software/content development, version control, problem reporting such as Github, JIRA, and Confluence
• Controlled authoring tools, such as Acrolinx

Education

• PhD in Terminology Management, City University of Hong Kong
• MA in Terminology Management, Université Laval
• BEd, Dalhousie University
• BA in Translation, Université Laval

Awards and Distinctions

• Recipient of the Government of Canada Tribute Award for leadership in the field of terminology
• Recipient of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship

Publications

Full Monographs/Books

• The Corporate Terminologist. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2021
• Narrowing the Gap Between Termbases and Corpora in Commercial Environments. PhD Thesis, City University of Hong Kong, 2014

Editor role:

• Terminology throughout History: a discipline in the making. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2025 (co-edited with John Humbley)
• Terminology in the Arab World. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2019
• Handbook of Terminology, Vol. 1.  Hendrik J. Kockaert and Frieda Steurs, Eds. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2015

Chapters in Books

• Terminology Managers. Handbook of the Language Industry: Contexts, Resources and Profiles. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, 2024
• Terminology Management. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology, Second edition. 2023
• Terminology Resources in Support of Global Communication. The Human Factor in Machine Translation. Routledge Studies in Translation Technology. 2018
• A Data Category Repository for Language Resources. Development of Linguistic Linked Open Data Resources for Collaborative Data-Intensive Research in the Language Sciences. MIT Press, 2019
• Terminology Management. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology, First edition. 2014
• Managing Terminology in Commercial Environments. Handbook of Terminology, Vol. 1. Hendrik J. Kockaert and Frieda Steurs, Eds. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2015
• Globalization and Terminology Management. Handbook of Terminology Management, Volume 2. Sue Ellen Wright and Gerhard Budin, Eds., John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2002

Journal Articles

• Localizing a phone app - Challenges, opportunities and reflections. Journal of Internationalization and Localization. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2023
• Localizing a Covid Phone App - A University Class Experience. Journal of Internationalization and Localization. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2021
• Building a new Data Category Repository : DatCatInfo. eDITion, DTT (Deutscher Terminologie - Tag d.V.), 2017
• Quality of terminology resources: a pragmatic approach. Circuit, Issue 133, 2016 
• Translating in Asia - Perspectives of a Westerner. Multilingual Computing. Sept 2016
• Remodelling the ISO Cat house. eDITion, 1:2015. DTT (Deutscher Terminologie - Tag d.V.), June 2015 
• Terminology as a Knowledge Asset. MultiLingual Computing, June 2014
• Processing terminology for the translation pipeline. Terminology, 19:1. John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2013
• TBX Glossary: A Crosswalk between Termbase and Lexbase Formats. Association for Machine Translation in the Americas. Co-authored with Sue Ellen Wright and Alan Melby, 2010 
• Terminology: A New Challenge for the Information Industry. American Translators Association Journal, 2008
• Bridging the Divide Between Authoring and Translation. Terminology as a key driver in business communications. TCWorld, 2006
• Terminology Extraction for Global Content Management. Terminology, 9.1, John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2003

Papers in Conference Proceedings

• Terminology in the age of AI. International Conference on Terminology in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Global Communications. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 4-5 September 2024.
• Translating Political Discourse - a case study in comparative stylistics. XVIII International Congress on Foreign Languages, Communication, and Culture. University of Holguin, Cuba, April 24-26, 2024
• Terminology Resources in Support of Global Communication. New Horizons in Translation Technology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015
• Narrowing the Gap Between Termbases and Corpora in Commercial Environments. LREC, Reykjavik, 2014
• Developing Lexical Resources for Controlled Authoring Purposes. LREC, Reykjavik, 2014
• On the term Coordinated Universal Time. Requirements for UTC and Civil Timekeeping on Earth. American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, Vol. 115, Univelt, Inc., San Diego, 2013
• Implementing TBX in ISO. A case study for a standard Terminology Markup Language. Terminology and Knowledge Engineering (TKE), June 2012
• Assessing the Terminological Coherence of Standards. Terminology, Languages, and Content Resources (LaRC), 2011
• Extracting, preparing, and evaluating terminology for large translation jobs. LREC, Malta, 2010
• Standards for language resources: The key to leveraging knowledge. International Conference on Global Interoperability for Language Resources, Hong Kong, 2010
• Recent Developments in Terminology Markup Languages and their Impacts on the Information Management Industry. Managing Ontologies and Lexical Resources: 8th International Conference on Terminology and Knowledge Engineering. Copenhagen Business School, 2008
• An Introduction to XML Localization Standards. Globalization Conference (IBM), 2003
• Terminology Management as Data Management. IBM Center for Advanced Studies, Toronto, 2001
• Creating an HTML Help System for Web-based Products. SIGDOC, Quebec City, 1998

Other Publications

• Terminology Management Tools. Common Sense Advisory, 2017
• Optimizing global content in Internet search. White paper co-authored with Barbara Inge Karsch, 2012
• Glossary and Terminology Specialization. DITA 1.2 feature article, 2009
• Standards and Guidelines for the Language Industry. Language Technologies Research Center (LTRC) and Industry Canada, 2006, and 2nd edition in 2007
• ISO Technical Committee 37 – Terminology and other language and content resources – Current status and outlook for supporting the language industry. Industry Canada, 2006
• Terminology Management: A study of costs, data categories, tools, and organizational structure. LISA, 2003
• Terminology Management in the Localization Industry. LISA, 2001

Presentations

-- at conferences, workshops, webinars, and other industry events

• Localizing Phone Apps - Issues and Challenges. Jeux de la Traductologie, Université Laval, March 15-17, 2024
• Translating Political Discourse - a case study in comparative stylistics. XVIII International Congress on Foreign Languages, Communication, and Culture. University of Holguin, Cuba, April 24-26, 2024
• Subject fields in termbases: their design, use, and representation. Multilingual Digital Terminology Today (MDTT), Italy, June 2022
• Search keywords as a form of terminology. TOTh 2022. Chambéry, France, June 2022
• Cloud-based multilingual micro-content. MidWest Association for Language Learning Technology conference. Feb 5, 2022
• Supporting translators through keyword mining. Translation in Transition. TT5 Conference, Kent State University, Ohio, Oct 15-17, 2020
• Language resources in the workplace: how companies are leveraging language. Plenary presentation at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Language and Linguistics Society, Champaign, April 28, 2019
• Commercial terminology management - A theoretical dilemma. TOTh (Terminology and Ontology - Theory and applications): Terms used in business and other organisations. Marseille, France, Dec 6, 2018
• Micro Content - The New Localization Paradigm. Localization World, Shenzhen, China, March 2, 2017
• Terminology Resources for the New Age. Conference of the Spanish Terminology Association (AETER), Castillon, Nov 18, 2016
• Managing your micro-content. Data Conversion Laboratory webinar, Oct 11, 2016 
• Terminology Management Training - The missing piece in tertiary translation education in Asia-Pacific. 8th Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (APTIF), Xi'An, China, June 17-18, 2016
• Terminology Theory and Practice in Translation Studies. Translation Education in a New Age, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China, April 15-16, 2016
• Words Count: Boosting Translation Memory with Word Memory. Localization World, Tokyo, April 13-15, 2016
• Re-modelling the ISO TC37 Data Category Registry: Challenges and Theoretical Reflections. TOTh workshop Terminology and Standards, European Parliament, Luxembourg, Dec 3, 2015
• New Frontiers in Terminology Work. Interverbum Conference. Stockholm, Sept 25, 2015
• Controlled Language in Commercial Environments. Variations of Controlled Natural Language, Matsue, Japan, June 20, 2015
• Language standards. Thailand Translation and Interpretation Conference: ASEAN Best Practices in Language, Translation, Interpretation and Informatics, Bangkok, April 28-30, 2015
• Terminology resources in support of global communication. International Conference on New Horizons in Translation Technology. Chinese University of Hong Kong, April 24, 2015
• Global search optimization - Managing multilingual search keywords. Localization World (LocWorld) Shanghai, April 14, 2015
• The power of words: Why smart companies create their own dictionaries. Keynote speech at the Plenary of the Object Management Group (OMG), Long Beach, California, Dec 10, 2014 
• Terminology standardization, terminology management and best practices. XIV Conference of the Spanish Terminology Association (AETER), Madrid, Sept 26, 2014
• Exploring Terminology as a Valuable Information Asset. Interverbum Conference, Stockholm, Oct, 2014
• Developing lexical resources for controlled authoring purposes. LREC, Reykjavik, May 2014
• Narrowing the termbase/corpus Gap. LREC, Reykjavik, May 2014
• The fundamentals of terminology management. SDL Webinar, March 2014 
• The business case for terminology management in a corporate environment. SDL Webinar, 2014
• Terminology workflows. SDL Webinar, 2014
• Creating a termbase - data model, data categories, and what to include. SDL Webinar, 2014
• Making terminology work. LocWorld, Bangkok, Feb 25, 2014
• New concepts in science and technology. Requirements from international terminology standards. American Astronomical Society, Washington, DC, Jan 5, 2014
• Closing the gap between corpora and termbases. Tekom, Weisbaden. Nov 7, 2013
• Naming of scientific concepts - Requirements from international terminology standards. Future of the International Time Scale, International Telecommunications Union - Radiocommunication Sector, Geneva, Sept 19-20, 2013
• Moving beyond TM to tactical language resources. LocWorld, Singapore, April 10-12, 2013
• Quality Assurance – the key to integration and ROI. Results-driven terminology management. Interverbum Conference, Stockholm, March 22, 2013
• Terminology Work in International Organizations. Copenhagen Business School, March 2013
• Implementing TBX in ISO. A case study for a standard Terminology Markup Language. Terminology and Knowledge Engineering (TKE), Madrid, June 2012
• Term extraction in commercial environments. Tekom, Wiesbaden, Oct 2011
• Managing terminology in commercial environments. Tekom, Wiesbaden, Oct 2011
• Language standards as a cornerstone for business strategies - Implications for the design of academic curricula. International Cooperation on Education about Standardization (ICES), Research and Academic Teaching about Standardization, Hangzhou, China, June 2011
• ISO Standards – Are they terminologically coherent? First International Conference on Terminology, Languages, and Content Resources (LaRC), Seoul, June 2011
• Terminology 101 – Terminology Management for Indigenous Languages. Indigenous Language Institute (ILI), New Mexico, 2010
• Corpus-based monolingual term extraction: methods and applications. Common Language Resources and their Applications (CLARA), Bergen, 2010
• Lexicographical and terminological resources: data models, relationships, applications. Common Language Resources and their Applications (CLARA), Bergen, 2010
• Extracting, preparing, and evaluating terminology for large translation jobs. LREC, Malta, 2010
• Managing terminology for productivity gains. The Localization Certification Program, Gatineau, 2010
• Language resources and their commercial applications. Bangor University, Wales, 2010
• Industrial perspectives for terminology management. University of Vienna, 2010
• Standards for language resources: The key to leveraging knowledge. International Conference on Global Interoperability for Language Resources, Hong Kong, 2010
• Terminology standards in IBM. Terminology and Information Interoperability, Bogota, 2009
• ISO TC37. JIAMCATT (UN), Ottawa, 2009
• Proprietary vs shared resources? Translation World, Toronto, 2009
• The content globalization industry and terminology... an emperor with no clothes? LISA, Dublin, 2008
• Driving quality in global content through terminology management. Terminology in Advanced Management Applications, Gatineau, 2008
• Terminotics: Computer tools in terminology. Terminology in Advanced Management Applications, Gatineau, 2008
• The New TermBase eXchange. Terminology and information interoperability, Moscow, 2008
• Term Extraction in IBM - A key enabler for delivering products to global markets. Terminology and information interoperability, Moscow, 2008
• The New TBX (TermBase eXchange). LISA Forum, San Francisco, 2008
• Managing terminology to bring value to your translation business. New England Translators Association conference, Boston, 2008
• The business demands for terminology standards. LISA Forum, Berlin, 2007
• Terminology as a driving force in content optimization: towards locale-agile development. LISA, Berlin, 2007
• Le terminologue d'entreprise. Colloque Terminologie, Outaouais, 2007
• Les normes en terminologie et domaines connexes. Colloque Terminologie: Approches transdisciplinaires, Outaouais, 2007
• Term Extraction in IBM. Terminology, Translation, and Technology Transfer, Beijing, 2006
• Terminology Extraction: Optimizing the Output. Terminology, Translation and Technology Transfer, Beijing, 2006
• Managing Terminology for Content Management and Localization. LISA Forum Shanghai and LISA Forum, New York, 2006
• Enterprise Communications: The Business Value of Lexical Data. LISA Forum Zurich, 2005
• Do Words Really Matter? LISA Forum, Zurich, 2005
• Terminology and Translation Memories. Government of Canada Translation Bureau, Hull, 2005
• Terminology in the Business Environment. Government of Canada Translation Bureau, Hull, 2004
• Terminology for Machine Translation. LISA Forum, Washington, 2003
• Terminology for the Health of your Business: A Holistic Approach. LISA Forum, Washington, 2003
• The LISA Terminology SIG - Findings. LISA Forum, Heidelberg, 2002
• Language Resource Management for Enterprise Communications: The ROI. LISA Forum, Washington, 2002
• Managing Terminology for Effective Enterprise Communication. LISA Forum, Vienna, 2001
• Terminology Relations in a Relational Database. Terminology in Advanced Management Applications, Antwerp, 2001
• Terminology Management as Data Management. Center for Advanced Studies, Toronto, 2001
• The Net.Commerce Terminology Database. SIGDOC Conference, New Orleans, 1999