TERMINOLOGY - A POWERFUL COMMUNICATION TOOL

Thierry FontenelleHead of General Affairs DepartmentTranslation Centre for the Bodies of the European Unionthierry.fontenelle@cdt.europa.eu

Interagency Terminology WorkshopTranslation Centre for the Bodies of the European UnionLuxembourg, 9 December 2011

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TERMINOLOGY IS THE DNA OF KNOWLEDGE

KARA WARBURTON, HEAD OF TERMINOLOGY MANAGEMENT AT IBM

Chunking: pre-assembled multi-word units

• Words and terms = prefabricated building blocks of language (chunks of language)

• Writers/speakers store, retrieve, process language very largely in chunks (ready-made sequences)

• Terminology vs. phraseology

• Bovine spongiform …. encephalopathy• Maladie de la vache… folle• Mad cow… disease

LANGUAGE IS A DYNAMIC AND LIVING ORGANISM New terms are created every day Some terms fall into oblivion or become

deprecated Experts often have terminological preferences

Geopolitical factors Mexican flu vs. A(H1N1) virus

Types of audience / publications Scientists vs general public Academic report vs. newspaper article

BSE/Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy vs. Mad Cow Disease

THE CENTRE’S CLIENT POLICY

In line with the Centre’s Strategy, approved by the Management Board, one of the core

objectives is to achieve GREATER CLIENT SATISFACTION through:

enhanced cooperation and information exchange;

better understanding of clients’ expectations and customised solutions for their needs;

improved quality of the Centre’s products and services.

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THE CLIENT SATISFACTION FORM (CSF)

Only 109 client complaints related to terminology in 2011• 0.31% only of all translations delivered to clients (>35000)• 8% of all CSFs

THE CENTRE’S PRODUCTS

Translation

Amendment/Modification

Editing

Revision

Standardisation

Terminology

Term lists

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Acquisition and representation Equivalence in EU languages Dissemination Exploitation during translation process

(term checkers…)

TERMINOLOGY CHALLENGES:

Terminological consistency/accuracyvs.the “dictatorship” of terminology

A precarious balance

THE TRANSLATION CENTRE’S TERMINOLOGY PROJECTS

Term lists and glossaries for agencies

IATE (interinstitutional terminology database - http://iate.europa.eu)

ECHA-TERM (http://echa.cdt.europa.eu)

B2B EuroClass terminology enrichment for OHIM

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THANK YOU FOR COMING AND

ENJOY THE PRESENTATIONS!