I’ve been making a record of the abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms I come across ever since I first started translating professionally over 20 years ago. As others might benefit from my efforts, I’ve decided to share my list.

Most entries will only be helpful for translation colleagues working from Spanish into English and vice versa.

Since my list is in a Word document and hasn’t transferred very well to the website, do tell me if you spot any problems and I’ll try to fix them.

Similarly, if you have any suggestions or notice any errors, please let me know. I’ve only used some of these terms once in my career and I might have noted them down incorrectly or decided on a dodgy translation for them at the time.

Consequently, I obviously cannot guarantee that every term is correct. You’ll have to double check before using them as you would with any info you find on the Internet.

Click on the two links below (A–M and N–Z) to access the lists of abbreviations, acronyms & initialisms.

Alternatively, you can download the Abbreviations, Acronyms & Initialisms Word file (last updated 5 January 2022).

Download Abbreviations, Acronyms & Initialisms file

And click here for abbreviations of days and months.