ISO 12616:2002 [الأرشيف] - منتديات واتا الحضارية

محمد عبد الفتاح أحمد

14/06/2007, 03:12 AM

26 ISO BULLETIN APRI L 2003
A MONTH OF ISO STANDARDIZATION
Streamlining translation –
ISO 12616: 2002, Translation oriented
terminography
By Carol B. Eckmann, Convenor, ISO TC 37/
SC 2/WG 2, ISO 12616 Project Editor
In the late 1980’s, when ISO 12616 on
translation-oriented terminography was
proposed as a new ISO/TC 37, Terminology
and other language resources, work item,
the idea of creating a standard designed
for the special needs of translators
was controversial. There was relatively
little understanding within traditional
terminology institutions of precisely what
these special needs comprised, and there
were widely differing views regarding
whether terminological methodology
could – or should – be adapted in order
to cater to them. Thus, the earliest
drafts of the document skirted the real
translation-related issues, focusing
instead on the layout and format of
terminological records and referring
to other standards for the treatment of
content as well as data selection and
storage. However, as the efforts of the
working group progressed, the substance
of the document evolved into the present
standard, which has become recognized
in translation and terminology circles
alike as not merely useful, but pivotal
to the quality of multilingual as well as
monolingual information production.
The speed along the information
superhighway has increased exponentially
in the past decade, and the need
for multilingual language services has
skyrocketed at virtually all levels of the
private and public sectors. Ensuring adequate
quality of such services is difficult,
however, because the contractor often
has limited in-house ability to monitor
the finished product, which is likely to
be in a foreign language. Some countries
have highly specialized training
programmes that lead to certification of
qualified language personnel, but even
this certification cannot guarantee that
a given individual is competent to deal
with every type of task. The problems associated
with screening the quality of the
end-product make it even more essential
to introduce quality control in terms of
the production process itself.
The quality of a translation can be
measured partly in terms of linguistic elements,
such as grammar and idiomatic
language usage, and partly in terms of
the accurate use of the terminology applicable
within the field involved. ISO
12616 provides normative guidelines
to enable translators and translation
support staff to record, maintain and
quickly and easily retrieve terminological
information in connection with their
work. In addition to information about
the special features of translation-oriented
terminography, the standard stipulates
procedures for the management of
terminological information in a computerized
environment, and identifies essential
and optional data categories that
are particularly relevant in the context
of the translation process.
Systematic recording of terminological
information can vastly enhance translator
performance, improve text quality
and increase productivity. An organized
collection of terminological information
makes it possible for language service
providers to keep track of, and reuse,
their hard-won expertise.
“…The present
standard...has
become recognized
in translation and
terminology circles
alike as not merely
useful, but pivotal
to the quality of
multilingual as well
as monolingual information
production.”
Features of translation-oriented
terminography
Language service providers need to
be able to store and retrieve a broader
set of data than is traditionally stored
in a terminological database. This set
of data includes not only all forms of
terminology (terms, names and certain
symbols), but also phraseology, contexts
and standardized text segments or
renderings. Translators will generally
find it useful to record phraseological
units as main entry terms even though
this represents a deviation from
traditional terminology methodology.
The application of translation-oriented
terminography requires identifying
specific data categories that are to be included
in the terminological entries and
designing a predefined, standardized
format for storage of this information. It
is up to the translators or support staff
themselves to determine the type and
number of the data categories to be incorporated
into their terminology collections,
as well as the format or database
structure they wish to use to systematize
the information.
Data Categories
An informative annex to the standard
contains a selection of the data
categories considered to be of particular
relevance to the translation process. The
annex provides detailed explanations of
these data categories as well as examples
of how these may be applied and
“The standard is
designed to be
incorporated into the
work processes of
individual translators
as well as the work
of a team, agency or
department.”
ISO BULLETIN APRI L 2003 27
Systematic recording of terminological
information can vastly
enhance translator performance,
improve text quality and increase
productivity.
different ways of recording the same type
of terminological information.
The data categories utilized in ISO
12616 are cited from ISO 12620:1999
Annex A, which is the TC 37 standard
outlining the prescribed list of data categories
for terminological systems. ISO
12620 is primarily directed towards designers
of computational tools, and one
of the greatest challenges in the work
on ISO 12616 was to adapt the structure
and content of ISO 12620 to application
by another group of specialists. ISO
12616:2002 and ISO 12620:1999 are very
closely linked, and revision of the latter
may prompt revision of the former.
Certification
ISO 12616 provides all the elements needed
to ensure optimal quality and consistency
of the terminological information utilized
in translations as well as other forms
of multilingual text production. The
standard is designed to be incorporated
into the work processes of individual
translators as well as the work of a team,
agency or department, and can be adapted
to form a basis for administering sourcelanguage
texts, parallel texts translations
and other information in the target
language. Furthermore, the document
lays down requirements that are essential
to the interchange of terminological
information.
ISO 12616 is a standard for practical
application by translators and others
working with multi-lingual documentation.
It is expected to be adopted as a
national standard in various countries.
The standard may be utilized in the tendering
process for contracts for translation
in the European Union and national
government spheres. The document can
also be widely applied in the private sector,
which is dependent on the use of freelance
consultancy and often has little
capacity or ability to validate the quality
of outsourced language tasks. There are
indications that ISO 12616 will also be
incorporated into the standard contracts
for translation utilized by many national
associations of translators.
Although there is no formal certification
available at present, translation
companies and agencies documenting
that their work is based on ISO standards
of this type will greatly enhance
the credibility of their bids for international
translation projects. ISO 12616
will also be very useful in helping
translation companies to define specific
routines and processes needed for
quality assurance purposes, and may
provide a starting point for certification
in the context of the ISO 9000 series. In
addition to translation and localization
agencies, the standard will be of use to
terminologists, linguists, information
managers, database managers, publishing
houses, etc. Furthermore, it is
expected that designers of translation
tools will incorporate features from the
standard into future versions of their
software.
ISO 12616 increases the reliability of
translations and provides the translation
and information community with
a reference document for the language
services offered to its users worldwide.