Terminology Management for legal translators

Terminology management is the process of documenting terms in an organized and systematic way. Given that up to 40% of translation time can be spent on terminology research, documented terminology is of vital importance to translators since it helps greatly reduce the time spent to re-research each term. Terminology management files, like glossaries, are useful not only to linguists, but to clients as well, who can re-use them for similar future projects. Being able to leverage terminology means that professional legal translators ensure consistency and high-quality content in their legal translations.

For those interested in terminology management there are two summer schools that provide respective training.

To begin with, the International Terminology Summer School (TSS) is a one-week, practice-oriented training course about the methods and principles of terminology management, organized and lectured by some of the most renowned and respected trainers and experts in the field of terminology. This year it is going to take place in Vienna, Austria from the 11^th until the 15^th of July 2016.

This summer school is designed for translators, terminology professionals, students and researchers who are looking for an introduction to terminology management in theory and practice. No specific background or knowledge level is required to participate.

On 13^th July one of the topics is dedicated to legal translation and terminology.

The provisional programme is as follows:

 11 July 2016 – UNDERSTANDING TERMINOLOGY MANAGEMENT

• What is terminology?
• Why terminology management?
• How terminology work is embedded in my organisation and work environment?

 12 July 2016 – TERMINOLOGY MANAGEMENT SKILLS

• Data Modelling: Data Categories for Terminology Management
• Terminology Tools – Terminology Management, Extraction and Control
• Terminology Exchange
• Creating a Terminology Database
• Exploring TBX

 13 July 2016 – TERMINOLOGY STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS PROCESSES

• How to present the business case for terminology
• Terminology Policies and Terminology Planning
• How to calculate and argue costs & return on investments for terminology
• Legal translation and Terminology

 14 July 2016 – STANDARDS AND LEGAL ISSUES FOR TERMINOLOGY WORK

• Copyright Issues for Terminology Management
• Standards for Terminology Work: Principles, Definitions and Relations
• Terminology Work in ISO TC 37

15 July 2016 – APPLICATION SCENARIOS

• Participants’ Terminology Projects, Q & A Workshop
• Wrap-up, Final Discussion, TSS Certificates and Closing

You can find more information about fees, discounts and registration here: http://www.termnet.org/english/events/tss_2016/index.php

Similarly, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) is organising the 1st International Translation Technology Summer School in Antwerp, Belgium from the 29th of August till the 2nd of September 2016.

This Summer School is not focused on terminology management only, but also covers other interesting topics regarding translation and localization issues and tools.

According to the website, the overall draft programme is as follows:

Day 1

• The translation process and translation technologies
• Parallel workshops on multilingual workflow management, file formats and file conversion

Day 2

• Computer-assisted translation tools (CAT): commercial vs. open-source, desktop vs. cloud
• Parallel workshops on different translation memory tools and translation management systems.

 Day 3

• Workshop on Machine Translation and Post-Editing
• CAT-tools and dictation
• Terminology management and corpus-analysis tools

 Day 4

• Technical communication
• Parallel workshops on website and software localization

 Day 5

• Parallel workshops on Quality in Translation
• How to evaluate translation technologies

This is also a one-week event, during which experienced trainers and experts from both the academic and the commercial world will give presentations, hands-on workshops, and use case scenarios. The keynote speakers are yet to be announced.

This summer school is designed for language professionals who are looking for a practice-oriented and state-of-the-art introduction to translation and localization issues and tools. It would also be very useful for legal translators, or for people looking to improve their overall translation skills, including their legal translation skills.

You can find more information about fees, discounts and registration here: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/conference/transtech-summerschool/registration-ttsummerschool

The language of instruction and discussion for both these events is English.

By Eva Angelopoulou