Glossary and phrase memory

Glossa has two separate terminology tools. They solve different problems and work best together.

The distinction matters: the glossary is a constraint, while phrase memory is contextual support. The first tells the model what it must respect; the second shows approved examples that may help when the context is similar.

Glossary

The glossary is explicit and project-facing. You define source terms, required target terms, and optional notes, then Glossa injects those constraints into the run.

Use the glossary when:

• a term must always map to the same translation
• a project has house style or editorial vocabulary
• you want the judge to flag missing or incorrect terminology

Phrase memory

Phrase memory is retrieval-based. Glossa extracts reusable source-target pairs from approved work, stores them, and suggests them again for similar chunks later.

Use phrase memory when:

• recurring formulations appear across a corpus
• you want assistance beyond a small hand-maintained glossary
• the project evolves over time and should benefit from previously approved phrasing

How they differ

Tool	Best for	Input style
Glossary	Mandatory terminology	Manual entries
Phrase memory	Reusable local phrasing	Extracted approved pairs

Where each one acts in practice

• The glossary constrains the run up front.
• Phrase memory suggests reusable phrasing from prior approved work.
• The judge can still flag terminology or consistency failures after both.

Do not treat phrase memory as an absolute source of truth. A retrieved match can be perfect in one chapter and wrong in another: it should be selected, not merely accepted.

Recommended workflow

1. Start with a small glossary for names, terms, and non-negotiable translations.
2. Run a few chunks in Test mode.
3. Keep only good outputs.
4. Let Glossa save or search phrase-memory matches from approved work.
5. Review suggested matches before injecting them into a production run.

Good practice

• Keep the glossary short and strict; do not turn it into a full style guide.
• Use phrase memory for patterns, not for unquestioned automation.
• If a retrieved phrase is contextually wrong, reject it rather than weakening the threshold globally.
• Re-check terminology during audit, especially after refine or format stages.
• If a phrase is critical and always mandatory, promote it to the glossary instead of leaving it only in memory.