Summaries 1/1996

• 30 000 terms for the EU in less than 12 months

• EDIC I at TNC

• Country codes in vocabularies

• Glass vocabulary

• New editions of the Dictionaries of Electronics

• New terminology project

• Courses and congresses

• Terminfo index 1995

30 000 terms for the EU in less than 12 months

In the issues 1/95 and 6/95 of Terminfo, we have told you about the task of collecting around 30 000 Finnish terms for Eurodicautom termbank. In the following, we explain how it all began with some visions of the future.

As soon as Finland became a member of the EU and Finnish became an official EU language, it was clear that the amount of Finnish terminology should be brought at the same level with the other official languages. As the resources of the EU Commission are limited, the representatives of the Commission turned to TSK for help. The Swedish terminology centre, TNC, was also contacted as Swedish became an official EU language at the same time as Finnish.

The EU needs terminology about various areas of administration as well as industry and commerce, not just technology. The project was divided into seven subprojects with TSK as the co-ordinator. The necessary expertise of the subject matter was ensured by the participation of expert organisations. Although deadlines for the subtasks were somewhat different, they had something in common – a tight schedule. The first phase of the task was, however, concluded in November 1995. A total of 33 000 term records were dealt with, and the job resulted in 26 000 Finnish terms and more than 3000 definitions.

At times the job was easy and you could simply pick the terms from an existing source but sometimes it was really difficult or even impossible to find the Finnish equivalents. All in all, the task was so demanding that TSK's personnel was more than doubled last year.

As for the future, in the competitive biddings arranged by the EU last summer, TSK was given the task of collecting about 70 000 additional terms in about a year. The new project will bring about even more co-operation with the experts of various fields.

EDIC I at TNC

At the same time as TSK added Finnish terms into the EU termbank Eurodicautom, the Swedish terminology centre, TNC, was busy with a similar project for supplying the EU with about 30 000 Swedish terms in various fields. The terms in this EDIC I project came from fields like fibre optics, environment, and information technology. In addition to terms, definitions, contextual information and annotations for translators were included. This year TNC has set up a new project with about the same volume as last year. This time the terms come from fields like agriculture, information technology, building and energy.

Country codes in vocabularies

In the vocabulary of food additives, presented in Terminfo 6/95, we used a country code in connection with the Swedish term tillsatsämne (additive). We would now like to explain the usage. The country code is used if a term is only valid in a certain country and not in the whole linguistic area. The most widely used language symbols with country codes are

svFI – Finnish Swedish,
svSE – Swedish Swedish,
enGB – British English and
enUS – American English.

If the language symbol is not followed by a country code, the term can be used anywhere in that linguistic area. You may refer to Terminfo 2/94 or the standards SFS-ISO 639 and SFS-ISO 3166 for more information.

Glass vocabulary

Pia Junnola, who studies languages and terminology in the University of Vaasa, worked at TSK last summer as a trainee. One of her tasks was to compile a glass vocabulary. The concept systems in the vocabulary are based on the Finnish concepts. The Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, English, German and French equivalents for the Finnish terms are mostly derived from TNC 70 – Glossary of Glass in Building. The Finnish definitions are mainly based on Rakennustekniikan käsikirja (Handbook of Construction Engineering) and the Swedish definitions are produced by modifying the TNC's definitions.

In some cases, different sources gave different suggestions. The terms opal glass and milk glass, for example, were synonyms in one source but in another milk glass was a species of opal glass. Please, send your comments about the vocabulary to TSK.

New editions of the Dictionaries of Electronics

The third editions of the English–Finnish and Finnish–English Dictionaries of Electronics were published in 1995. The dictionaries are primarily meant for translators but they are also suitable for professionals in electronics. The dictionaries are descriptive as they only present the existing terminology but do not give any explicit recommendations as to which terms should be used.

The English–Finnish Dictionary of Electronics includes 23 000 entries, which is about 40% more than in the previous edition. English words are given Finnish equivalents and in many cases also a definition or description. Additionally, subject field and cross-references help the user in term selection.

The Finnish–English Dictionary of Electronics includes 24 000 entries, which is about 20% more than in the previous edition. Most of the new entries are in the fields of information technology and telecommunications. One drawback seems to be that the dictionary does not give the subject field. If, however, this information is needed, you may consult the English–Finnish dictionary.

Even though our experience with the third editions is rather short, we can recommend them to those who write or translate texts about electronics or information technology.

New terminology project

Initiated by the terminology group of Telecommunications Administration Centre and funded by a number of companies and administration, TSK has set up a project to compile a vocabulary of telecommunication services. The vocabulary will contain about 150 concepts with Finnish definitions. The terms will be given in Finnish, Swedish, English, German and French.

Courses and congresses

Organisers and their contact information of the following congresses are given in page 21: Terminologie für ein vielsprachiges Europa, AILA Conference, Euralex, TKE 96, and Language & Business Life.