Understanding the two types of term suggestions in Smartcat

Overview

Smartcat has two distinct features that both use the word "suggest" in relation to terminology. Understanding the difference between them helps linguists and administrators manage glossary quality effectively.

Type 1: Linguist term suggestions

This feature allows linguists — including marketplace freelancers — to propose new terms for inclusion in a glossary. These suggestions are not added to the active glossary automatically. They require administrator review and approval.

How it works:

1. A linguist encounters a term they want to propose while working in the Editor. You can use the hotkey Ctrl+E to suggest a term.

2. They submit a suggestion via the glossary panel

3. The suggestion appears in the Suggested Terms tab in Linguistic Assets.

4. An administrator reviews and approves or rejects the suggestion

See Understanding glossary permissions and the term approval workflow for the full approval process. This includes the option to set up auto-approval of terms, which approves a term after it is suggested, as described below, a set number of times.

Type 2: Glossary Term Suggestions

Glossary Term Suggestions are based on user edits during human review rather than just TM/glossary/AI pattern recognition. These suggestions appear inline in the Editor as the linguist works and they are not submitted for approval.

How it works:

1. As a linguist translates a segment, Smartcat analyses the source text

2. The system surfaces relevant term suggestions and displays them in the Alternatives window

3. The linguist can accept a suggestion with a single click or ignore it

Key differences

FAQs

What's the difference between a "linguist term suggestion" and a "Smartcat Suggests" term?

A linguist term suggestion is proposed by a human linguist (via Ctrl+E in the Editor) and requires administrator approval before it's added to the glossary. A Smartcat Suggests term is generated automatically from user edits during review and appears inline in the Editor's Alternatives window — it doesn't require approval.

Do I need to approve every suggestion I see while translating?

Only linguist term suggestions go through an approval workflow (in the Suggested Terms tab). Smartcat Suggests terms are just inline recommendations you can accept or ignore as you work — there's nothing to formally approve.

Where do linguist-suggested terms show up for review?

In the Suggested Terms tab within Linguistic Assets.

What triggers a Smartcat Suggests recommendation?

The system analyzes the source text as a linguist translates a segment and surfaces relevant term suggestions based on patterns from TM/glossary/AI recognition — these appear directly in the Alternatives window.

Can I automatically approve suggestions?

Yes. You can configure Smartcat to automatically approve a glossary term. When a user or users suggest a term a number of times to meet the Proposals needed rule, Smartcat automatically adds the term to the glossary.