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How would you order a hotdog in Paris or Madrid? If you translated the term directly into French or Spanish, you would be ordering a panting pooch or an overheated puppy dog. The waiter would laugh at you!

However, if you were traveling with a terminologist, your problems would be solved. Terminologists are people who convert terms from one language to another. As you can see from the hotdog example, some phrases, items or terms in one language do not translate exactly into another language. A terminologist would research the term "hotdog" and tell you the French or Spanish term for a wiener served in a bun.

Pascale Chapuis is a terminologist working for a large pharmaceutical company. When Chapuis was studying translation at university, she intended to specialize in technical translation. However, during her placement with a chemical firm, she discovered that she enjoyed researching terms more than she enjoyed doing translation.

"Finding the correct term is like solving a puzzle. Terminologists are the Sherlock Holmes of the linguistics world," she says. "You get to know a lot of things. I am great at Scrabble!"

Returning to university to complete her degree, Chapuis found a job in a linguistics documentation center. This job helped her become familiar with the different materials available to prepare translation. "Basically, it is like a small, specialized library for translation," she says.

After graduating, another placement -- this time with a railway -- resulted in an offer of a full-time terminologist job. "My job was to computerize the terminology databank. It was perfect for me," she says. "I wanted hands-on experience with the computer. This is an important aspect to terminology."

Chapuis' favorite project was one that she worked on during a time of self-employment. She was in charge of coordinating the terminology work for the Great Whale Project, an environmental impact study.

This was the first time she had worked with natural sciences such as biology. "I fell in love with it. I came to decide that I wanted to work for a pharmaceutical company, " she says.

In her current job, Chapuis begins her day by checking her voice mail to see if there are any "emergencies" for her to attend to, or if there are any requests from translators. Once she has a list, the terminologist prioritizes the tasks in order of importance, then begins researching the terms.

After finding the answers and ensuring that the sources are reliable and that the terminology is grammatically correct, she passes the information along to the client who requested it. She could be called upon to give a reason why she believes the term to be the correct one.

"Then I record the information in a database," she says. "We do that so we do not have to repeat the same research twice."

Chapuis spends a lot of time reading specialized magazines and periodicals or looking up books to purchase. Working in the pharmaceutical industry requires that she be able to translate technical terms used in medical science or biology. "I create files of information on a specific subject matter, such as cardiology or oncology. Then if a term comes up for that subject, I have somewhere to start looking."

If you are considering a career as a terminologist, Chapuis recommends that you learn a second language as early as you can. Then learn how to use the library and the Internet for research. "One last thing: read up on different subjects and watch educational television to broaden your knowledge base."

Many terminologists are also translators. Hans Fisher is a self-employed translator in the U.S. who incorporates terminology tasks into his daily work. Fisher was trained as an interpreter and translator by the Defense Language Institute. Having an excellent aptitude for languages, he learned to speak Hungarian and German in less than two years.

After graduating, Fisher worked for the government for 38 years. Twenty-seven of those years were spent doing translation and interpreting. After retiring, he opened his own business.

"Translators like myself do our own terminology research. We start a list and maintain records of all the new terminology that we pick up in every type of translation. I enter it in various glossaries. Some of these glossaries I have been working on for 30 to 35 years."

Many of the terms in Fisher's glossaries are not found in regular dictionaries. Often, when he finds a new term, he does not know what it means. "The term has a question mark beside it until I can resolve it or find a definition. Sometimes there are no definitions available and you have to fill in the gaps."

Fisher specializes in the technical fields -- electronics, mechanics and communications. But like many translators, he ends up doing a variety of things. "I do a fair amount of legal work as well, and sometimes medical."

Fisher also suggests that anyone who is considering a career in terminology should consider incorporating it into another field, such as translation or project management for a translation agency.

"Project managers are usually the ones who are consolidating this terminology from different translators. If you are looking for a job, put on the resume that you are looking for a position as project manager and are specifically interested in terminology."

Inna Geller is the translations manager at an international medical company with its head office in Minneapolis. When her company wants to hire, they have three basic requirements.

"The person we hire must have knowledge of one or more western European languages," says Geller. "They must be able to develop the relational database we use. And they must have strong project management skills."

Geller's department deals with a variety of groups within the company. They work with technical publications, with marketing and communications, and with European counterparts who manage a translation center in Europe. "The terminologist we hire must be able to multi-task. That is, they must be able to do many things at once, and they must be able to carry the ball all the way through from the beginning to the end."

They must ensure that terminology is consistent in all communications and that users in different countries receive appropriate messages.

Terminologist Myrna Castellaro speaks English, French and Italian. Castellaro initially wanted to be a translator. While studying translation at university, she realized that she preferred terminology courses and arranged to transfer.

"I like the research part. It intrigues me. I would rather do more research than translate all day. With research, I meet people and look things up in different types of references," she says.

When Castellaro started, all work was done on paper. Now, everything is digital. "We look at every computerized tool that is available," says Castellaro. "I am in front of my computer all day long."

After graduating, Castellaro worked as a terminologist for a railway for 15 years. When the railway closed the translation department, she became self-employed and worked from home. Then she accepted a full-time job with a phone company.

On a typical day, Castellaro addresses questions sent by colleagues. "If they can't find the term in our in-house database, they send it to me. I research it using various sources. When I find something, I send the answer back to them."

Sometimes Castellaro is required to do translation as well. She also looks after the library. "I make sure the books are there and are listed and placed properly." A third project involves publishing a little employee newsletter that offers tips on French-English translation or grammar rules.

Terminology can be stressful when deadlines loom. Castellaro finds that there is often a limited turnaround time and she must find a word or term quickly. It is also very important to be well organized. "After working in the field for a while, I developed a habit, a way of doing things that works well for me."

Castellaro believes that anyone going into terminology should also work on translation and try to master both. "If case one is not doing so well, you can work on the other one."