International Terminology Symposium

Terminology for Europeans (and beyond)

ALBINA AUKSORIŪTĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

On July 5, 2010, in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, the day before the 14th international Euralex Congress, an international terminology symposium, Terminology for Europeans (and beyond) (Terminology for Europeans (and not only them)), was held. The symposium aimed to review the situations of different national and regional languages, identify the problems faced by various terminology centres, discuss the most difficult problems to solve and the needs of terminology users, consider the methods used by terminology centres, and discuss opportunities and prospects for the development of terminology centres.

The symposium was organized by the Dutch-Flemish Association for Dutch Terminology (NL-TERM) (Vereniging voor Nederlandstalige Terminologie – Dutch-Flemish Association for Dutch Terminology), together 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 body for interested users and everyone involved in terminology in the Netherlands and Flanders. Through the joint efforts of the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname, the Dutch Language Union supports and promotes the development of the Dutch language and literature and the teaching of Dutch. In 2007, the Dutch Language Union established the Dutch Terminology Service Centre, whose aim is to provide support and information to users of Dutch terminology.

The symposium’s opening session was begun by NL-TERM president Prof. Willy Martin, who proposed discussing the activities of various terminology centres and the problems they face by asking who can do what, for whom, when, where, why and how. In her presentation, Terminology and Government (Terminology and Government), Linde van de Bosch, Secretary-General of the Dutch Language Union, emphasized that terminology has always been highly significant to the Union’s language policy; accordingly, it had established terminology organizations and launched other initiatives: the Dutch-

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Flemish Policy Advisory Committee for Terminology (Dutch-Flemish policy advisory committee for terminology, CoTerm committee), a website dedicated to disseminating terminology information (NedTerm), and the Dutch Terminology Service Centre. In addition, the Dutch Language Union supported the development and adaptation of a Dutch-language term recognition program and continues to support NL-TERM’s activities. Thierry Fontenelle, Head of the General Affairs Department at the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in Luxembourg, presented the terminology work of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, founded in 1994. She discussed the European Union’s multilingual terminology database IATE, highlighting the differences between the publicly accessible IATE database and its internal version, which is used by translators. The speaker also introduced the particular features of compiling terminological dictionaries for the Translation Centre’s clients.

Three presentations introduced emerging terminology centres. Bénédicte Madinier, Head of the Department for the Development of the French Language at the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, discussed the French experience of integrating terminology into language policy. She presented the special structure established by the French government to address the shortage of scientific and technical terms, as specialized language had become dominant in a society undergoing constant change. The speaker emphasized the practical and political challenges involved in maintaining the vitality of a language and promoting linguistic diversity under conditions of globalization.

Ayfer Altay, Head of the Department of Translation at Hacettepe University, delivered the presentation Towards a Terminology Centre: The Awareness, The project, The Outcome (Towards a Terminology Centre: Awareness, Project, Outcomes), in which she presented in considerable detail the European Commission project TermTurk: Terminology for Cross-Cultural Dialogue and Specialized Communication (Term-Turk: terminology for intercultural dialogue and specialized communication). The project’s aim is to develop a national terminology policy and bring together qualified terminology experts.

Dina Ferreira of the Central University of Technology spoke about terminology work in South Africa. In the presentation Terminology Management in South Africa. A review of Three Working Methods (Terminology Management in South Africa. A review of three working methods), she emphasized that, following the adoption of eleven official state languages in South Africa, the need not only to develop terminology and manage terminology in all eleven languages, but also to disseminate terminology information in all official languages, had grown considerably. The speaker presented three methods of terminology work: linguisti-

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methods directed toward translation and language policy. According to her, adapting different working methods to the conditions in South Africa, examining them and making them more specific will make it possible to choose the best way to develop terminology and manage terminological resources in South Africa. To achieve this, the country’s 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 of the Frisian Academy in Leeuwarden, Hennie van der Vliet, head of the Dutch Terminology Service Centre, and Albina Auksoriūtė of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language—spoke about terminology work in centres that are already operating. Pieter Duijff delivered a paper The Aim and the Contributions of the Frisian Language Desk (Frizų kalbos skyriaus tikslas ir darbai), in which he first briefly reviewed 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 department of the Frisian Academy—although, of course, it is not the only institution providing services for the Frisian language. Since late 2008, when a concise Frisian dictionary was published (Frysk Hânwurdboek – Concise Frisian Dictionary), the department’s main aim has been to answer questions concerning the Frisian language and its use. Recently, the department has not been very active and has no long-term projects. According to the speaker, the development of Frisian terminology requires better cooperation among institutions providing services for the Frisian language, because an active department that provides terminology services and conducts research has a real opportunity to develop Frisian for use in all fields.

In his paper The Dutch Terminology Service Centre: realistic support for practical terminography (Olandų terminologijos paslaugų centras: reali parama praktinei terminografijai), Hennie van der Vliet introduced the Dutch Terminology Service Centre, established in 2007. He noted that people engaged in practical terminology work are quite often unaware of existing theories and tools, or of how to use them; the Dutch Language Union therefore established this centre to assist and inform users of Dutch terminology. The centre cooperates with the Belgian company Cross Language and the Computational Lexicology and Terminology research group at the Free University of Amsterdam, seeking to bridge the gap between theory and practice. As the speaker emphasized, they strive to reach active terminology users-

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users, inform them about the possibilities for managing terminological resources, and help them find and use appropriate tools and methods. These aims are pursued by providing information on the website and actively trying to contact potential terminology users. A method for applying terminology work is being developed and summarized in two online courses: ad hoc terminology and systematic terminology.

Albina Auksoriūtė introduced the symposium audience to the history of Lithuanian terminology work in Lithuania, discussed in detail the activities and achievements of the Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, and presented other institutions engaged in terminology work in Lithuania.

Three other presentations introduced centres with extensive experience in terminology work. Anna-Lena Bucher, director of the Swedish Centre for Terminology, spoke about the activities and experience of the centre, established in 1941, in her paper Challenges and experiences at the Swedish Centre of terminology (Švedijos terminologijos centro iššūkiai ir patirtis). She introduced the Swedish National Term Bank (Rikstermbanken), which began operating only in March 2009; discussed the Language Act, approved in July 2009, and its significance for developing terminology infrastructures in Sweden; and outlined terminology training in Sweden. The speaker emphasized that one of the Centre’s greatest challenges, in working to foster greater recognition of the importance of terminology work in all fields, is the need to make every effort to improve understanding of and increase the prestige of terminology across all sectors of society.

Ingrid Swinnen, Terminology Services Coordinator at the Council of the European Union, delivered a paper Terminology for Translation at the Council of the European Union (Terminologija, susijusi su vertimais, Europos Sąjungos Taryboje), in which she reviewed the importance of terminology and the problems faced by translators and terminologists at the Council of the European Union. The speaker explained that the unit responsible for central coordination of terminology work, Terminologija ir dokumentacija (Terminology and Documentation), is a small team of permanent and rotating staff assigned to the heads of the Language Service. This unit ensures the planning and coordination of terminology work in all EU languages and serves as the contact point for translation departments working in different languages and for interinstitutional cooperation through the IATE system.

Marta Grané i Franch spoke about TERMCAT, the Catalan Centre for Terminology based in Barcelona. In her paper Terminology services for the Catalan autonomous region (Terminologijos paslaugos autonominiam Katalonijos regionui), she emphasized that the most important Catalan Centre for Terminology,

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The task of this centre, which has been operating for 25 years, is to systematize and develop the terminology of cataloguing languages in various fields; TERMCAT therefore seeks to promote the preparation and dissemination of various dictionaries, advises and assists institutions preparing, translating and publishing various terminological works, and creates and provides cataloguing-language equivalents for neologisms. The speaker noted that the Centre’s future challenges involve the ongoing development of innovative, high-quality tools and resources while maintaining an ongoing dialogue with experts and users. The presentations were followed by a discussion of terminological work in different countries and of the best methods and approaches for developing terminology. Three symposium recommendations were considered and adopted: 1) to establish a system for long-term cooperation among European terminology service centres, 2) to maintain contact with users of terminology services and assess their needs, and 3) to work closely with leading organizations in terminology research and training.

The following day, that is, on 6 July, the Dutch Terminology Service Centre held a terminology seminar Practical Terminology: fast, cheap and reliable (Practical Terminology: fast, cheap and reliable). The Centre’s director, Hennie van der Vliet, presented in detail the working methods, tools and existing resources of the Dutch Terminology Service Centre. Another member of the Centre, Attila Görög, introduced the audience to the methods their centre uses for corpus creation, term recognition and developing other terminology resources, and surveyed the problems faced by computational linguistics specialists. Michel Verhagen discussed how to select linguistic resources in practice and how to manage them, 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 work and methods of terminology centres not only in regional, national and European contexts, but also globally; participants shared their experience in terminological work and established close ties among terminology centres operating in different countries. A collection of papers based on the presentations delivered at the symposium and seminar is being prepared in the Netherlands.

Received 2010-12-21

Albina Auksoriūtė Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius E. paštas [email protected]

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