Terminology Policies

Terminology Policies

International research and activities

20 minutes to tell you about:

The difference: Language and Terminology Planning

That was then and this is now: Historical overview of the terminology planning debate

The future: How terminology planning becomes an International Standard

5 minutes for your questions and discussion

Terminology planning and language planning are two complementary concepts under a broader concept represented by the term

communication planning.

The degree of interdependency

between terminology and language planning depends on the specific environment

in which they are applied.

Language planningplanning activity dealing primarily with deliberate language development.

mixture of methods and approaches: decision about the status of a language in a society at large, in a certain

domain or context (= status planning).

linguistic codification of a language for establishing a linguistic norm: - development of language resources (text & speech corpora, lexicographical

data, terminological information), - development or recording of literary traditions (= corpus planning),

the development of a language education policy (= acquisition planning), translation strategies, etc.

can be geared towards developing a new linguistic norm or can be based on an existing linguistic norm.

Terminology planning

planning activity for developing domain communication largely according to the needs and requirements of knowledge representation.

These, depending on the domain as such or sort of text within a domain, may comprise not only linguistic representations of concepts (i.e. terms), but also all kinds of non-linguistic representations of concepts (graphs, formulae, numbers, signs, etc.).

Therefore, terminology planning may have to take into account these non-linguistic representations as well.

While the focus of language planning is the conscious manipulation and development of a linguistic entity to improve communication in society or a language community at large,

terminology planning may be language independent or in its objective across languages and aiming at the

improvement of communication in a specific domain or application thereof.

The biggest difference: the point of view of the planning initiative and the ultimate planning goal.

Because language planning also concerns the development of the lexicon, and because domain communication also consists greatly of linguistic representations of concepts there exists a large area of overlapping between the two concepts.

Historical Overview

1979Infoterm founded by UNESCO to organize and promote worldwide

cooperation in the field of terminology

1986 Guidelines on national terminology planning policy in developing

countries and countries with not developed terminology work

Conference on Arab Cooperation in Terminology, Tunis

1989 Infoterm consultation workshop in Vienna

1990TKE 90 Knowledge transfer to/from countries with languages using non-

European scripts The role of terminology planning in International science & technology

planning policies Terminology planning - a strategic tool for terminology development,

regulation and dissemination Guidelines for terminology planning in developing countries (International

Conference on Terminology Planning, Kuala Lumpur, November 1990)

1991Terminologieplanung und Wissensindustrien

1992 International Conference on Terminology Science and Terminology

Planning. Riga

1993French Language Planning in the French Speaking World.Language Planning and Terminology Planning - Theories and Practical

Strategies Practical Issues in Multilingual Terminology Planning

1994Fachsprachen- und Terminologiepolitik in Europa

1999Terminologieplanung und Sprachplanung

2000B.Antia: Terminology and Language Planning: An alternative framework of

discourse and practice.

2003-2005Guidelines for Terminology Policies (UNESCO) translation, revision, transformation

2006 Round Table Terminology Policies, 3rd EAFT Summit, BrusselsWorkshop Terminology Policies, AntwerpWHO International Health Terminology Network: Expert group for the

formulation and implementation of a Terminology Policy for WHO founded

2007 Registration of the New Work Item “Terminology Policies – Development and

Implementation” ISO/TC 37/SC 1/WG 4

Expert team

Member body Name E-mail

Austria Anja Drame adrame@infoterm.org

Belgium/The Netherlands

Hendrik Kockaert

Frieda Steurs

Hendrik.Kockaert@lessius-ho.be

Frieda.Steurs@lessius-ho.be

Canada Nelida Chan

Denis Perreault

nchan@yorku.ca denis.perreault@mgs.gov.on.ca

Colombia Constanza Malavert cmalaver@icontec.org.co

Denmark Hanne Erdman Thomsen het.id@cbs.dk

France Loïc Depecker

Jean Schwob

loic.depecker@univ-paris3.fr

schwob@club-internet.fr

Ireland Fidelma Ní Ghallchobhair fnighallchobhair@forasnagaeilge.ie

Norway Knut Jonassen kjo@standard.no

Sweden Anna-Lena Bucher alb@tnc.se

USA Jennifer DeCamp

Sue Ellen Wright

jdecamp@mitre.org

sellenwright@gmail.com

Cooperation with external liaisons

envisaged

• ISO

• WHO

• FAO

• ICAO

• OMG

• LISA

Scope

Standardization of principles and methods for the development and implementation of policies regarding terminology work on

• national (i.e. language based) or • corporate (i.e. subject based or commercial)

levels,

considering different requirements and goals as well as the underlying environment (e.g. multi/monolingual, development status) which have an impact on such a

policy.

Due to the interdisciplinary (cross departmental), cross functional or interregional nature of terminology,

bottom-up initiatives need to be

backed and regulated by top-down decisions and guidelines:

Terminology Policies

Objectives

It is the purpose of this ISO work item

to standardize general and specific methods, principles, and a workflow

for the development and implementation of terminology policies

in a variety of contexts.

ISO 29383 Terminology Policies – Development and Implementation will serve as basis for

Consulting & Certification

for organizations, governmental institutions and commercial enterprises

Target Groups

• Public administrations (local and central governments, language planning associations, minority language groups...)

• Companies (Diversity and Human Resources, Marketing and PR, Technical Communication, Terminology and Translation Departments, Knowledge Management)

• Civil Society Organizations (NGOs, IGOs, who operate within a mandate across geopolitical and linguistic and cultural borders)

• Project managers (in international or other projects that need to decide and plan for the temporarily limited use of terminology)

Table of Contents ISO NP 29383

Foreword1 Scope2 Normative references3 Terms and definitions

4 Language planning and terminology planning4.1 Language planning4.2 Terminology planning

5 Formulating and implementing a terminology policy5.1 Policies5.2 Success factors

6 Preparation, formulation and implementation of terminology policies

6.1 PHASE I – Preparation for the terminology policy6.1.1 Survey of the status quo6.1.2 Preparatory documents 6.1.3 Advocacy and awareness raising 6.1.4 Organization of a consultation process

6.2 PHASE II – Formulation of the terminology policy 6.2.1 Finalizing the policy draft6.2.2 Coordination with other strategic planning activities6.2.3 Implementation plan 6.2.4 Presentation for ratification 6.2.5 Decision on final policy

6.3 PHASE III – Implementation of the terminology policy 6.3.1 Management of the implementation6.3.2 Operational and organizational plan 6.3.3 Publicity and promotion

6.4 PHASE IV – Sustaining the terminology infrastructure

Next meetings:

2007-08 Provo, Utah (USA)

2008-08 Russia

2009-08 Colombia

Time plan

Registration 2007-01 CD 2008-02

DIS 2009-02

FDIS 2009-11

Publication 2010-02

All about Terminology Policies in the Web

http://www.infoterm.info/activities/terminology_policies.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_planning_policy

ISO/TC 37

http://www.iso.org/tc37

Thank you

ISO/TC 37 Secretariat (on behalf of the Austrian Standards Institute (ON))

InfotermMariahilferstr. 123/31160 ViennaAustria

www.iso.org/tc37

Anja Drameadrame@infoterm.org