TERMINOLOGY
MANAGEMENT AT THE
TRANSLATION CENTRE
Maria José Palos Caravina
Senior Terminology Coordinador
Terminology Team,
Language and Technology Support Section
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union
OUTLINE
 Brief overview: some basic concepts
 1st terminology projects and the current situation
 EFQM &Terminology (T21)
 Terminology checkers for QA - Controlled
language in action
 How we work: translation workflow & terminology
 Terminology-oriented tools
 Consultation (Quest II, Doc Search)
 Management (IATE)
 ROI
 Conclusions
“investing without understanding the terminology is
like wandering through the woods without a trail
map : you get lost”
What is a terminology policy ?
• “strategy aiming at developing or regulating emerging and
existing terminologies for an array of purposes”.
• It can take a variety of forms and styles : be a law, decree,
official statement or recommendation, speech, guidelines or
briefing papers.
• It concerns not only linguistic representations of concepts, but
includes in its scope all types of knowledge representations,
including formulae, graphs, graphical symbols, motions, etc.
• Although terminology is authoritative, it is constantly
influenced by an array of factors: demographic, cultural,
ethno- and geo-linguistic, socio-psychological, economic or
legal factors.
• We have to understand that terminology does not only affect
selected professional groups, such as translators, even though
they are the most concerned with it in terms of research.
Translation comes into play only at a quite advanced stage in
the life-cycle of terminology.
• The UNESCO Guidelines for terminology policies describe the
omnipresence of terminology in saying, that: “Terminology plays
a crucial role whenever domain-specific knowledge is :
–
–
–
–
–
–
Generated (research, development)
Used (specialized texts)
Recorded (databases, dictionaries)
Passed on (training, teaching)
Implemented (technology and knowledge transfer)
Translated and interpreted.”
• Or as one expert jokingly put it :“Terminology is like snoring –
everybody does it, only some are aware of the fact, and of those,
even fewer would admit it.”
Internal resources
CdT
Y
CCE-Emploi
Y
Cedefop
Y
COA
Y
Council
Y
EACEA
Y
EASA
Y
EC
Y
ECA
Y
ECB
Y
ECDC
Y
ECHA
Y
ECJ
Y
EDA
Y
EDPS
Y
EEA
Y
EFSA
Y
EMA
Y
EMCDDA
Y
EMSA
N - in the process of creation
ERA
Y
ETF
Y
EU-OSHA
Y
Eurofound
Y
Europol
Y
EUSC
Y
FRA
Y
FRONTEX
Y
OHIM
Y
Ombudsman
Y
Terminology
resources in
EU agencies
and Bodies
Terminology projects
2011- 2012
– FRONTEX – multilingual part completed
– ECHA (3 batches) & revision of REACH terms
– ECDC–web terms completed & new Source terms
approved – ready for multilingual part
– EFSA terminology watch – Source terms validation
– EMCDDA phase II – postponed for 2012 at client’s
request
– EMSA – Feedback expected on definitions
– CdT - postponed for beginning 2012
EFQM & T21 process
• Although each project is unique, covers specific
fields, languages and objectives, we felt the need
to define a common approach towards
terminology management.
• Based on the EFQM standards, used both as an
assessment tool and a management model,
already applied to other core activities of the
centre (translating a document, managing
translation resources), the T21 quality process
“Creating a new specialised terminology
resource” was defined in cooperation with the
Translation department and used since 2002
Quality Assurance/Term Checkers
 Purpose: ensure terminology consistency & compliance of
terminology used by translators with that approved by EU Agencies
• Pre-translation stage: automatic recognition & mark-up of
terms from a glossary in the source text.
• Translation stage: automatic detection (active segment) of
terms from a glossary + concordance tools during translation.
• Reviewing stage: automatic verification of the terminology
used in a bilingual document (translated with a CAT tool) against
a particular glossary.
4. How we work-Translation Workflow
PreTreatment
Translation/
Revision
PostTreatment
Technical
In-house
DMS
Administrative
Technical
External
Linguistic
Terminology Tools used at CdT
(consultation)
• QUEST II: metasearch tool ( web & MSWord access)
• Resources: IATE & external terminology
databases, Euramis (Concordance), EurLex, etc.
• DocSearch: CdT’s internal search tool. Similar to a
concordance tool that searches in CdT internal
documents. Bilingual display.
• Apart from translation memories (TWB, NEMO
& Nautil)
QUEST II
CdT’s CAT tool: NEMO
Terminology Management &
Term Extraction Tools
 IATE: centralised terminology repository for all EU institutions
(data management: input, editing, validation, import, export, user
management)
Xerox XTS: TermFinder/TermOrganizer used for term extraction
Allows loading aligned bilingual corpora and extracting terms with their
contexts, definitions and sources
 Other tools tested/being tested (Multiterm Extract, Fodina,
Multitrans, WordBee, Accrolinkx, Terminotix, etc.)
Conclusions
What is the Return on Investment (ROI)?
• Negative feedback expected to decrease
• Translators can trust the system so loose less time
looking for terminology (cost savings)
• If translators and clients use the approved
terminology we all gain consistency & revision time
• Clients are satisfied with the translation quality
• TM & terminology databases up to date both
internally and externally (same resources shared
internally and externally – harmonisation) …
• Documents are easy to understand for specialists
and/or general public – message is clear!
Some food for thought
•Unclear/wrong terminology in 1 original can lead to
23 wrong documents - save money and time
•Feedback on terminology (CSFs) → overall quality of
translations → EU terminology through IATE –
feedback from the other Institutions
• Using terminology resources for refining internet
searches, document retrieval and other applications
through ontologies, semantic web, etc.
There is no Knowledge without Terminology!
Thank you very much for your attention!
Questions?
Maria-Jose.Palos_Caravina@cdt.europa.eu