Multilingual terminology management
A brief overview and best practices
Licia Corbolante
TermITes and CATs Seminar20 June 2011
Overview
Defining terminology
Benefits of terminology management
Basic principles
Working with entries
Terminological quality
Defining terminology
1. Set of designations of a particular subject field
newwords
newterms
existingwords
existingterms
generic vocabulary
specificvocabulary
establishedvocabulary
recent vocabulary
LGP LSP
Defining terminology
1. Set of designations of a particular subject field
2. Theoretical discipline
3. Collection, description, recording, and consistent re-use of concepts and associated terms Terminology management
International Standards:ISO 704:2009 Terminology work – Principles and methodsISO 1087-1:2000 Terminology work – Vocabulary. Part 1: Theory and application
Benefits of terminology mgmt 1
Internal and external communication:
Knowledge sharing and management
Standardization and simplification
Reduced ambiguity
Better user experience
Interdisciplinary cooperation
Benefits of terminology mgmt 2
Efficient data exchange (standards!)
Cost reduction (research, support, translation…)
More accurate translation
better translation memories
Automation opportunities
signflower
/ ˈflaʊə /
concept
object
Concepts, terms, definitions
objects- are perceived or conceived- are abstracted into concepts
concepts- depict objects or set of objects- are organized into concept systems- are represented or expressed by bdesignations
designations(terms, appellations, symbols) representa concept
definitions describe the concept
ISO 704:2009 Terminology work – Principles and methods
Methodological approaches
Semasiological
(descriptive) (prescriptive)
lexicographydictionaries, glossaries
Onomasiological
terminology managementtermbases
border network
boundary network
edge network
perimeter network
Example
Border network A network that faces directly onto the Internet via a router that should provide an initial layer of protection, in the form of basic network traffic filtering.
Boundary network A logical portion of a network that can be accessed by computers that are in the restricted network or the secure network.
Broadband network A transmission medium designed for high-speed data transfers over long distances. Cable modem services and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) are examples of broadband networks.
Broadcast network A network that supports more than two attached routers and has the ability to address a single physical message to all of the attached routers (broadcast).
Complex network A type of operations network in which simultaneous operations take place or in which operations overlap, are contingent on each other, or have other complex relationships.
Edge network A network provides information exchange between the access network and the internal network.
External virtual network A virtual network configured to use a physical network adapter. External virtual networks are used to connect virtual machines to external networks.
Home network Home devices that are connected together. A home network consists of a home computer or home server that controls other (non-computer) devices such as lighting, media services, appliances, etc.
Internal network A network that links internal servers and users.
Local area network A network of computers, printers, and other devices located within a relatively limited area (for example, a building). A LAN enables any connected device to interact with any other on the network.Network A group of computers or other devices, such as printers and scanners, that communicate either wirelessly or by using a physical connection, such as an Ethernet cable or a phone line.
Operations network An organization of operations that synchronizes the dependencies between operations based on starting/ending times, costs, and other criteria.
Peer-to-peer network A group of computers that are connected on a network and share resources, such as printers and files.
Perimeter network One or more computers that have a connection to the Internet through an external screening router and a connection to the internal network through an interior screening router.
Private network A network within an organization that uses Internet technologies and protocols, but is available only to certain people, such as employees of a company.
Semasiological approach
Onomasiological approach
Concept system: set of concepts structured according to the relations among them
Concept systems
Concepts always exist in relation to each other.
Types of relations:
Hierarchical (superordinate, subordinate, coordinate)
Partitive
Associative (cause and effect, producer and product, activity and tool, material and productetc.)
Approaches and users
Onomasiological: active users, e.g. technical writers and terminologists (need to designate unknown concepts)
Semasiological: passive users looking up individual terms
Translators: SL comprehension (passive) and TL production (active) hybrid needs, benefits from both approaches
Benefits to translators
Concept systems are particularly helpful in:
Confirming or excluding synonymy
Targeted, more efficient research
Comparing concept systems in different languages
Systematic understanding of source textmore consistent translations
Concept-oriented termbase entry
Data structure, typically three levels: Concept level (language-independent) Language level Term level
Data categories associated to each level, some mandatory
[ISO 12620:1999 and isocat.org]
Data categories
DC are termbase “field names”, e.g. subject field, degree of equivalence, context, status etc.
Standardized and defined in ISO 12620:1999 and Data Category Registry (ISOcat.org)
The more data, the more information valuebut also increased complexity and mgmt requirements
Problems of concept systems
Monolingual environment:
Relatively fluid entities
Variations in time and space
Different subject fields, different ways of viewing knowledge
Concepts can be classified in different ways
Not all user needs are met
Problems of concept systems
Multilingual environment:
Different conceptualizations in different languages (social and cultural factors)
Different “maturity” of languages
Different degrees of equivalence across languages
Multilingual relations
Total equivalence Intersection
Inclusion No equivalence
concept A concept B
concept A
concept B
concept A concept B
concept A concept B
A = B A ~ B
A > B A ≠ B
Terminological activities
For each language:
1. Identify concepts and relations
2. Analyse and represent concept systems
3. Define concepts
4. Attribute designations to each concept
5. Record terminological data
Terms are not “translated”!
Concept/term identification
Criteria:
Frequency
Distribution
Visibility
Standardization
Specialization
Confusability
Novelty
Terminologization
Concept/term identification
Example of terminologization: in multi-touch devices, pinch describes a gesture equivalent to zooming out and zooming in and represented by two fingers with at least one of them moving towards or apart from the other.
Terminology extraction
Automatic term extraction
Manual term identification
Legacy terminology
Terms identified during translation
Post translation analysis
External sources
Considerable interpretative input neededbefore transferring to the termbase!
Definition
A good definition should:
provide enough characteristics to differentiate the concept from other related concepts
be as concise as possible and as complex as necessary
fulfill the needs of the user of the terminology product
Unhelpful definitions
civil servant Civil servants or persons treated as such under the legislation of one of the countries in the EuropeanEconomic Area and Switzerland
AdministrativeCommission
The composition, operation and tasks of the Administrative Commission on Social Security for Migrant Workers (ACSSMW) are regulated by Articles 80 and 81 of Regulation 1408/71.
Employed and self-employedpersons
Employed and self-employed persons who are or have been insured under the legislation of one of the countries in the EEA and Switzerland
Source: EULISSES glossary
Inadequate definitions
Tautological
Circular
Too narrow / Too broad
Negative
Substitution principle: an intensional definition“is valid if it can replace a designation in discourse without loss or change in meaning”.
ISO 704:2009 Terminology work – Principles and methods
Most common issues - 1
Duplicates! [Doublettes]
Homonyms not recognized
Lexical items (LGP) instead of terms (LSP)
Non-canonical forms
Inadequate definitions
Obsolete / incomplete / incorrect data
Most common issues - 2
Inconsistencies
Descriptions instead of terms
Full form + abbreviation
Poorly researched terminology
Interference across languages
Using unverified translated material as reference
What might help - 1
Familiarity with termbase specifications
Understanding concept-oriented terminology
Uniform working methods (incl. workflow, roles)
Avoiding “semasiological temptations”!
Reliability of sources
What might help - 2
Advanced search techniques
Awareness of terminological developments
Validation scripts
Continuous maintenance
Collaborative efforts
Assessing terminological resources
ISO 23185:2009 – Assessment and benchmarking ofterminological resources.
Usability: “extent to which an entity can be used toachieve goals effectively, efficiently, satisfactorily”
Sets of usability attributes related to:– terminological data– data management– data output– data input
Usability attributes [ISO 23185]
Usability attributes related to terminological data: Data structure specification Data category coverage Subject field coverage Language coverage Compliance with rules of coherence Use of authoritative sources Intellectual property rights ownership indication Symmetry of terminological data collection Size of terminological data collection
Usability attributes [ISO 23185]
Usability attributes related to data management:
Data validation
– completeness
– linguistic correctness
Control of redundancy /concept level duplication
Regular maintenance of data
Regular maintenance of metadata
Usability attributes [ISO 23185]
Usability attributes related to data output:
Readability of output data
– efficient data category distinction
– convenience for technical implementation
Access to data (e.g. query functions)
Customized selection of data
Usability attributes [ISO 23185]
Usability attributes related to data input:
User-friendly format for data input
Data validation
Compatibility with other data structures
Summing it up
Terminology management has huge benefits, not only for translators
Validated, well maintained data can be effectively re-used for current and future automation purposes
Collaborative effort of all stakeholders needed
References
Conference of Translation Services of European States, Recommendations for Terminology Work
M. Teresa Cabré Castellví, Terminology. Theory, methods and applications
Silvia Pavel and Diane Nolet, Handbook of Terminology and The Pavel Terminology Tutorial
Juan C. Sager, A Practical Course in Terminology Processing
Rita Temmerman, Towards New Ways of Terminology Description. The sociocognitive approach
Sue Ellen Wright and Gerhard Budin (edited by), Handbook of Terminology Management: Volume 1, Basic Aspects of Terminology Management, and Volume 2, Application-Oriented Terminology Management
ISO 704:2009 Terminology work – Principles and methods
ISO 1087-1:2000 Terminology work – Vocabulary. Part 1: Theory and application
ISO 12620:1999 Computer applications in terminology – Data categories, subsequently replaced by ISO 12620:2009 Terminology and other language and content resources — Specification of data categories and management of a Data Category Registry for language resources; DCs freely accessible in Data Category Registry (ISOcat.org)
ISO 23185:2009 – Assessment and benchmarking of terminological resources
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