Tarptautinis terminologijos simpoziumas „Terminology for Europeans (and beyond)“

Terminology | 2010 | 17 167 International Terminology Symposium Terminology for europeans (and beyond) alBINa aUkSORIŪtė Institute of Lithuanian Language The international terminology symposium Terminology for Europeans (and beyond) was held on 5 July 2010 in the city of Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, the day before the 14th Euralex International Congress. The aim of the terminology symposium was to review the different situations of both national and regional languages, to raise the problems faced by various terminology centres, to discuss the most difficult problems to solve, the needs of terminology users, the methods used by terminology centres, and to talk about the possibilities and prospects for the development of terminology centres. The symposium was organized by the Dutch-Flemish Association for Dutch Terminology (NL-TERM) in cooperation with the Dutch Terminology Service Centre (Steunpunt voor Nederlandstalige Terminologie – Dutch Terminology Service centre) and the Dutch Language Union (Nederlandse Taalunie – Dutch Language union). NL-TERM was founded in 1997 as a representative of interested users and everyone involved in terminology in the Netherlands and Flanders. The Dutch Language Union supports the development of the Dutch language and literature and the teaching of the Dutch language through the joint efforts of the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname. In 2007, the Dutch Language Union set up the Dutch Terminology Service Centre to provide support and information to users of Dutch terminology. The opening session of the symposium was opened by NL-TERM President Prof. Willy Martin, who proposed to discuss the activities of various terminology centres and the problems they face in answering the questions – who can do what, to whom, when, where, why and how. Linde van de Bosch, Secretary-General of the Dutch Language Union, in her presentation on Terminology and Government emphasised that terminology has always been of great importance to the language policy of the Dutch Language Union, and that her efforts have led to the establishment of terminology organisations and other initiatives: 168 A. Auksoriūtė | International terminology symposium Terminology for... the Dutch-Flemish policy advisory committee for terminology (coTerm committee), the website for terminology information dissemination (NedTerm) and the Dutch terminology service centre. In addition, the Dutch Language Union has supported the development and adaptation of the Dutch language term recognition program, and it continuously supports the activities of NL-TERM. Thierry Fontenelle, Head of the General Affairs Unit of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in Luxembourg, presented the terminological activities of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, which was established in 1994, and spoke about the multilingual European Union term base IATE, revealing the differences between the publicly available IATE term base and the internal version used by translators. She also introduced the peculiarities of the preparation of glossaries for the Translation Centre’s clients. Three presentations were devoted to the emerging terminology centres. Bénédicte Madinier, Head of the Language Development Department of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, spoke about the French experience in integrating terminology into language policy. She introduced a special structure of the French government created to satisfy the shortage of terms in science and technology, as a special language became dominant in a society changing daily. The rapporteur highlighted the practical and political challenges of maintaining language vitality and promoting linguistic diversity in the context of globalisation. Ayfer Altay, Head of the Department of Translation at Hacettepe University, presented a presentation entitled Towards a Terminology Centre: The awareness, The project, The Outcome, in which she presented in detail the European Commission’s project TermTurk: Terminology for Cross-Cultural Dialogue and Specialized Communication. The aim of this project is to create a national terminology policy and to mobilize qualified terminology experts. Dina Ferreira from Central University of Technology spoke about terminology work in South Africa. In her presentation Terminology management in South Africa. a review of three working methods, she emphasized that the adoption of eleven official languages in South Africa has greatly increased not only the need for terminology development and terminology management in all eleven languages, but also the need for terminology information dissemination in all official languages. In her presentation The Dutch Terminology Service Centre: realistic support for practical terminology, linguist Annie van der Vliet presented the Dutch Terminology Service Centre, which was established in 2007. He observed that those working in the practical terminology work quite often do not know about the existing theories and tools and how to use them, so the Dutch Language Union established the aforementioned center to help and inform the users of Dutch terminology. The Centre is working with the Terminology | 2010 | 17 169 what, translation and language policy-oriented methods. According to her, the application of different working methods in South African conditions, their examination and concretization will allow to choose the best way of terminology development and terminology management in South Africa. To this end, the government established two institutions: The Terminology coordination Section of the National Language Service and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB). Three speakers – Pieter Duijff from the Frisian Academy in Liuvardene, hennie van der Vliet, Head of the Dutch Terminology Service Centre, and Albina Auksoriūtė from the Lithuanian Language Institute – spoke about the terminology work in the existing centres. Pieter Duijff read a presentation entitled The aim and the Contributions of the Frisian Language Desk, in which he briefly outlined the history of the Frisian Academy and described the situation of the Frisian language in the Netherlands and its province of Friesland. He then introduced the Frisian Language Desk, established in 1980, a small branch of the Frisian Academy – of course not the only institution providing Frisian language services. Since the end of 2008, when a short dictionary of the Frisian language (Frysk Hânwurdboek – Concise Frisian Dictionary) was published, the main objective of this unit has been to answer questions about the Frisian language and its use. Recently, this unit has not been very active and has no long-term projects. According to the rapporteur, it is important for the development of Frisian terminology that there is better cooperation between institutions providing Frisian language services, as an active terminology service and research unit has a real chance of developing a Frisian language that is used in all areas. Belgian company Cross Language and the Computer Lexicology and Terminology Research Group of the Free University of Amsterdam to bridge the gap between theory and practice. As emphasized by the speaker, they seek to reach active terminology users 170 A. Auksoriūtė | International terminology symposium Terminology for... you, informing them about the possibilities of terminology management, helping them to find and use appropriate tools and methods. These goals are achieved by providing information on the website and by actively trying to contact potential users of the terminology. The method of working with terminology is developed and summarized in two online courses: ad hoc terminology and systematic terminology. Albina Auksoriūtė introduced the audience to the history of Lithuanian terminology management in Lithuania, discussed in detail the activities of the Lithuanian Language Institute’s Terminology Centre and the work done, and presented other institutions working on terminology in Lithuania. Three other presentations were made by centres with extensive experience in terminology work. Anna-Lena Bucher, Director of the Swedish Centre of Terminology, gave a presentation on Challenges and experiences at the Swedish Centre of Terminology, which was founded in 1941. She presented the Swedish national term bank (rikstermbanken), which started operating only in March 2009, discussed the Language Act approved in July 2009 and its significance for the development of terminology infrastructures in Sweden, and introduced terminology training in Sweden. The rapporteur emphasised that one of the greatest challenges for the Centre to raise awareness of the importance of terminology work in all fields is the need to make every effort to improve the understanding and prestige of terminology in all sectors of society. Ingrid Swinnen, Coordinator of the Terminology Services at the Council of the European Union, presented a presentation entitled Terminology for Translation at the Council of the European Union, in which she outlined the importance of terminology and the problems faced by translators and terminologists at the Council of the European Union. The speaker explained that the Terminology and Documentation Unit, which coordinates the central terminology work, is a small team of permanent and rotating staff assigned to the heads of the Language Services. This unit guarantees the planning and coordination of terminology work for all EU languages and acts as a focal point for translation services across languages and for interinstitutional cooperation within the IATE system. Marta Grané i Franch spoke about the Catalan Terminology Centre TERMcAT in Barcelona. In her presentation on Terminology services for the Catalan autonomous region, she stressed that the main objective of the Catalan Terminology Centre, TERMcAT is a non-profit organisation, operating for 25 years, whose task is the systematisation and development of Catalan terminology in various fields. TERMcAT aims to promote the production and dissemination of dictionaries, provides consultancy and advice to institutions that produce, translate and publish various terminological works, and develops and provides Catalan equivalents for neologisms. The rapporteur noted that the Centre’s future challenges are related to the continuous development of innovative and high-quality tools and resources, maintaining a constant dialogue with experts and users. The presentations were followed by a discussion about the experience of terminology work in different countries, the best methods and methods of terminology development were discussed. Three recommendations of the symposium were discussed and adopted: 1) establish a long-term cooperation system of European terminology service centres, 2) maintain contact with terminology service users and assess their needs, 3) cooperate closely with major terminology research and training organisations. The following day, on 6 July, the Dutch Terminology Service Centre organised a terminology seminar entitled Practical Terminology: fast, cheap and reliable. The head of the centre, hennee van der Vliet, gave a detailed presentation of the working methods, tools and existing resources of the Dutch Terminology Service Centre. Attila Görög, another employee of the Centre, introduced the participants to the methods used by the Centre for creating textbooks, terms recognition and other terminology resources, and outlined the problems faced by computer linguists. Michel Verhagen talked about how to select and manage linguistic resources in practice, while Oele Koornwinder gave a detailed presentation of Dutch language term recognition programs. The International Terminology Symposium was useful and interesting, because it presented the activities of terminology centres and their working methods not only in regional, national and European, but also in global context, shared experience of terminology work, established close links between terminology centres operating in different countries. In the Netherlands, a collection of articles is being prepared based on the presentations at the symposium and seminar. Retrieved 2010-12-21. Albina Auksoriūtė Institute of Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania Email: [email protected]