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.

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

Related resources

• Understanding glossary permissions and the term approval workflow

• Glossary management: create, import, export

• Setting up translation memory in Smartcat