Say you're translating a pharmacy's product posts into Hausa. In week one you write the word for "dosage" one way. In week three, an AI tool suggests another, and the client's cousin says a third is the "correct" one. Now the shop's page reads like three different people wrote it. A client glossary stops this. It's a short shared list of the terms, names and phrasing the client has approved, and it makes your work faster, more consistent and harder to replace.
This guide shows you how to build one in a spreadsheet, how to use AI tools to speed up the drafting without letting them decide the terms, and how to turn it into something you can charge for. It suits translators, subtitle writers, social media managers and anyone writing in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Pidgin, Swahili, Twi or another language for a business.
What a client glossary is, and why clients value it
A glossary is a table with one row per term. Each row says: here's the English (or source) term, here's the exact wording we use in the local language, and here's when not to use it. That's it. It isn't a dictionary. It covers only what this client says repeatedly.
Small businesses rarely have one. Their brand voice lives in the owner's head and in old WhatsApp messages. When you write it down, you give them something they can hand to the next person who works on their content. That's a real asset, and it's the reason a client will keep you instead of switching to whoever quotes lower.
It also protects you. If the client later says "this word is wrong," you can point to the row they approved, with the date.
Step 1: Collect real material before you write anything
Don't start from a blank sheet. Ask the client for what already exists:
- Past posts, flyers, price lists and product labels
- Voice notes or videos where the owner explains the business in their own words
- Customer messages that show how buyers actually talk
- Any earlier translation the client liked or complained about
Read through it and highlight words that repeat. A food seller will repeat words for portions, delivery and "fresh." A fintech agent will repeat words for transfer, charges and balance. These repeating words are your first 30 to 50 glossary rows. You don't need hundreds.
Step 2: Set up the sheet
Open a new Google Sheet, or an Excel file if data is a problem and you work offline. Use these columns:
- Source term: the English or original wording.
- Approved term: the local-language wording the client chose.
- Avoid: variants you've seen that the client rejected.
- Context note: when it applies, for example "customer-facing only" or "formal notices."
- Dialect or audience: for example "Lagos Yoruba, casual" or "Kano Hausa, formal."
- Status: Proposed, Approved, or Disputed.
- Approved by / date: who confirmed it and when.
Freeze the top row and add a filter. If you already build sheets for clients, the habits from spreadsheet skills that get small-business clients paying apply directly here.
Step 3: Use AI to draft, not to decide
This is where an AI writing or translation tool helps. Paste in a batch of your highlighted terms and ask for two or three possible renderings of each, with a short explanation. Then use those as options to put in front of a human who speaks the language natively.
Be careful here. General-purpose tools tend to be weaker in Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba tone marks, Pidgin and many other African languages than in English. They may produce stiff, textbook wording or mix dialects. They can also sound confident when they're wrong. Treat every output as a suggestion. For a fuller method on checking, see using AI to translate and check Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and Swahili.
Two practical rules:
- Never paste confidential client material (customer names, phone numbers, unpublished prices) into a tool without the client's permission. Use made-up examples instead.
- Mark anything an AI suggested as "Proposed" until a person has confirmed it.
Step 4: Get approvals the easy way
Clients don't want to review a 50-row spreadsheet. Make it simple for them.
- Pick the 10 terms that appear most often.
- Send them in a short WhatsApp message, one per line, with your recommended wording and one alternative.
- Ask them to reply with the number and "yes" or the change they want.
- Copy their reply into the sheet and set Status to Approved with the date.
If the client doesn't speak the language well (common when a business owner hires you to reach a market they don't know), ask for one native-speaking customer or staff member to confirm. Pay a small fee for that review if you must, and build it into your quote.
Step 5: Handle dialects, tone and code-switching
This is where most glossaries fail, so decide it early. Many African audiences mix languages naturally. A Lagos customer may expect Yoruba with English words for "transfer" or "delivery." A Nairobi audience may use Sheng-flavoured Swahili online but expect standard Swahili on a bank notice.
For each term, ask:
- Who is reading this: young buyers, older customers, or officials?
- Does this platform call for casual or formal language?
- Do customers actually say the local word, or do they keep the English one?
Often the right answer is to keep the English word. If customers say "POS" and "transfer" every day, a pure local-language replacement may sound odd. Record "keep in English" as the approved term. That's a valid entry.
A worked example
This is a hypothetical case. Imagine you're hired to write Hausa and English posts for a small pharmacy in Kano. After reading 20 past posts, you pull out these terms:
| Source term | Approved term | Avoid | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Keep in English | Longer Hausa phrase | Customers already say it |
| Take after meals | Client's pharmacist confirms wording | AI draft version | Health instruction; must be checked by a professional |
| Open today | Short Hausa line chosen by owner | Formal long version | Casual posts only |
| Free consultation | Owner-approved phrase | Two other phrasings | Do not use "free" for drugs |
Notice two things. One, the health instruction isn't decided by you or an AI tool; it goes to the pharmacist. Two, "free" is limited because the client doesn't want customers thinking medicine is free. Those notes are the value you're adding.
Step 6: Use the glossary in every job
A glossary only works if you apply it. Before sending any work:
- Search your draft for each Approved term and confirm it's used the same way throughout.
- Search for every "Avoid" variant and remove it.
- Add new terms you introduced as Proposed, and flag them to the client.
- Save a dated copy of the sheet so you can show what changed.
If you use an AI tool for first drafts, paste the approved terms into your instructions and tell it to use them exactly. Then check the output anyway, because tools sometimes ignore such instructions. If you're unsure whether a tool is good enough for your language, run it on a sample first, as in how to test an AI tool on your own work before paying.
Common mistakes
- Trusting one reviewer. One person's Yoruba or Igbo isn't the whole language. Where dialects differ, say which one you're using.
- Building a giant list. A 500-row glossary nobody reads is worse than 60 rows people use.
- Dropping tone marks and spelling conventions. In Yoruba and Igbo, missing diacritics can change meaning. Agree with the client on whether marks are used, and be consistent.
- Not recording rejected terms. The "Avoid" column saves arguments later.
- Handing over the file for free without thinking. The glossary is part of your service. Decide whether it's included or priced separately.
Turning the glossary into paid work
There are two sensible ways to price it. You can include a basic glossary in a monthly content retainer, which makes the client less likely to leave. Or you can sell a one-off "brand language setup": review existing content, build 40 to 60 terms, get approvals, and deliver a clean sheet plus a one-page style note.
For a hypothetical one-off setup, you might estimate 6 hours of reading and drafting, 2 hours of client back-and-forth, and a native reviewer you pay ₦10,000. If you want your time at ₦4,000 an hour, your quote needs to cover ₦32,000 for time plus the reviewer, so ₦42,000 before any buffer. Those numbers are made up for illustration; use your own rate. The method in how to price a spreadsheet cleanup job works well for this kind of fixed-scope job.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a native speaker if I'm fluent?
If you grew up speaking the language, you can lead. But for specialist topics such as health, legal or finance, get a second check, and for any dialect you don't speak daily.
Can I reuse a glossary across clients?
Keep a private personal list of general terms, but don't copy a client's approved terms or brand names to another client. Their wording belongs to their brand.
Is Google Sheets enough?
Yes. For most small clients a sheet is plenty. Specialised translation software exists, but you don't need it to start.
What if the client keeps changing their mind?
Use the Status and date columns. Change a term only with a written confirmation, and agree that revisions beyond a set number are billed.
Your next step
Pick one current or past client and pull 20 repeating terms from their last month of content. Put them in the seven-column sheet, send the top 10 for approval on WhatsApp, and you'll have a working glossary by the end of the week.
Results from any side hustle or online work vary widely, and nothing here is a promise of income. Be wary of anyone who asks you to pay upfront to start earning.