Glossaries and guidance

The Prime Minister's Office compiles multilingual glossaries on government terminology. Glossaries are usually the product of multilingual terminology projects carried out by language specialists in cooperation with experts from different administrative branches.

The projects typically run for 1-3 years and the resulting glossaries cover between 150 and 900 concepts. Equivalents in selected languages, definitions, explanations and notes on usage are given, together with concept diagrams illustrating the relationship between the concepts concerned.

To support the work of the government translators, glossaries are also compiled on topical issues. These usually provide equivalents in two or three languages, together with explanations and examples of usage. 

Guides such as the English Style Guide and the Guide to Translating Finnish Statutes into English and Treaties into Finnish help translators, revisors and authors of government texts. Other guidance is issued to help resolve various language problems encountered in translating or writing in English. Even translation memories containing government texts are freely available.

Where to find glossaries and guidance?

Most glossaries are published in the Finnish Government Termbank Valter.

Our Glossaries and guidance page in Finnish provides access to other glossaries, guidance and translation memories.

Also a list of links to glossaries compiled by other government agencies and public bodies is provided here (in Finnish only).