Transcript An introduction to the Translation Centre for the Bodies

TERMINOLOGY - A POWERFUL
COMMUNICATION TOOL
Thierry Fontenelle
Head of General Affairs Department
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union
[email protected]
Interagency Terminology Workshop
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union
Luxembourg, 9 December 2011
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

 Types
factors
Mexican flu vs. A(H1N1) virus
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
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THE CENTRE’S PRODUCTS
 Translation
 Amendment/Modification
 Editing
 Revision
 Standardisation
 Terminology
 Term lists
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TERMINOLOGY CHALLENGES:
Acquisition and representation
 Equivalence in EU languages
 Dissemination
 Exploitation during translation process (term
checkers…)

Terminological consistency/accuracy
vs.
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!
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