ECQA Certified Terminology Manager explanier in Webinar hosted by SDL

Join us in a SDL webinar about the ECQA Certified Terminology Manager training program!

30.04.2012

TermNet member SDL is hosting a webinar about the training and certification program “ECQA Certified Terminology Manager”.

Join us for this webinar and learn more about this innovative and successful program!

Language: German

Date: 10. May 2012
10:00 – 11:00 CETS (Central European Summer Time – Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna)

You can register for this webinar at: http://www.translationzone.com/de/events/translation-agency/may2012/2012-05-10-terminologiemanager-zertifizierung.asp

About ECQA Certified Terminology Manager – Basic

In the globalised knowledge and information societies, specialised language has become a prerequisite of any kind of efficient and effective communication, management and interoperability of technical systems and methodologies. Terminology and terminology management build an integral, high quality and quality-assuring part of the end products, services and tools in the fields of

• INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION,
• CLASSIFICATION & CATEGORISATION,
• TRANSLATION & LOCALISATION.

The new job profile Certified Terminology Manager – Basic combines and bundles the various competences of professionals active in these areas.
ECQA Certified Terminology Manager – Basic is especially suited for professionals who work as

• INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONALS:
  ICT experts, information and knowledge managers, etc.

• EXPERTS IN CLASSIFICATION & CATEGORIZATION:
  e-Business, Semantic Web, libraries and archives, etc.

• LANGUAGE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS:
  Translators, interpreters, localisers, technical writers, etc.

This certification can be regarded as specialized professional qualification.

For more information about the ECQA Certified Terminology Manager please visit:
http://www.termnet.org/english/products_service/ecqa_ctm-basic/index.php
or contact us termnet@termnet.org

Community interpreting, project management tools soon certified

Some information by the Language Industry Certification System:

Until recently the Language Industry Certification System (LICS) has been known around the world mostly for being the first to have developed a certification scheme for the EN 15038. But this is not the only champion LICS has in store. More certification products for the language industry have been developed and will enter the market in short time. Among them are the certification of Community Interpreting Service Providers (based on the Canadian National Standard Guide for Community Interpreting Services, published by the Healthcare Interpretation Network (HIN), Project Management Tools for translators, and the LICS Translation Text Quality Certification (based on the metrics used in the industry standard for the automotive industry SAE-J2450).
More information: www.lics-certification.org.

Terminology country report: Turkey

If you had asked me about terminology in Turkey one year back, I would probably have answered that there is not much going on in this country. It’s true, we have the occasional (however, I must say, very interested) participants at TSS. But else there was not much information coming out of the country that reached me.

But that was before I encountered TermTurk project (www.termturk.net). This project, sponsored by the EU-Turkey Dialog programme, is an eye-opener for me.

What’s it all about? Actually, it is meant as a beginning. A group of people got together to kick-start what they perceived as long overdue – the development of an elaborate and active terminology infrastructure in Turkey.

Surprisingly, there has not been much institutionalised research on terminology. Nor is there something like an information centre where interested groups or individuals can find what they need to know about it. It is surprising, because there is such a strong patronage: Kemal Mustafa Atatürk himself wrote a brochure to introduce Turkish geometry terminology. Atatürk, as we know was very dedicated to language planning in order to promote and facilitate nation-building processes in the new republic. Terminology is even explicitly mentioned in the country’s famous Anıtkabir – his mausoleum and museum in Ankara (something that my colleagues and I still marvel about because it such a pleasant feeling to see terminology being rewarded such public recognition).

So finally, TermTurk should achieve what is still lacking: an information and research centre at Hacettepe University in Ankara, closer ties with internation organizations and activities (e.g. in standardization and reserach), a national terminology policy, and networking, networking, networking of the many different and often isolated initiatives within Turkey.

And TermTurk is doing well in achieving these goals: Turkish standards institute is now actively participating in ISO/TC 37  standardization projects, a series of well-attended trainings, conferences and workshops foster dialogue and knowledge transfer, quality assurance and service certification (LICS) take root, training material is obtained, translated and produced at high speed.

TermTurk as a project will come to an end in November 2009. But the continuation of the achievements is already planned and prepared.

There is much to be expected from Turkey in the next years. And I, for my part, am quite proud to be at the core of the action from the very beginning.

What’s important and what is not for terminologists

One topic is haunting me for quite a while now. There’s a lot of talk about quality assurance and certification. Is there really a need for it for terminology managers and translators?

Whenever I ask people I obviously get mixed responses. Most agree and find all these issues very important. But usually these are the ones who are involved in standards and other working groups so I am not sure if they are really representative for all the terminologists out there. 

There are also those who say of themselves they have no clue about all this and don’t care.  That there are other issues they find much more important. Or that, while they personally find it important, do not believe it will be successful in their country or region.

What do you find most important when you have to argue or prove to your managers or clients that what you are doing is important, state-of-the-art and worth every cent they spend on you?

I belong to the first group. I believe that certification schemas and the emphasizing of well-handled terminology management as an asset for quality assurance will ultimately strengthen our position.

Yes, it costs without guaranteeing reward but isn’t that so for all innovations?

What’s your opinion about this? Are you an innovator or rather wait until others have taken the lead?

A.